Missing Pieces
by SapphireWaters
Summary: Avani lost her parents when she was four years old. She happened across the library of Wan Shi Tong and has lived there ever since. She meets the gaang, and they decide to let her join. But will this quiet ten year old ever be reunited with her missing parents?
1. Chapter 1

People were here. I could hear them. Their voices echoed through the library. I set down the parchment I was studying and snuck closer. They stood in the middle of the walkway. There were four of them. Three boys and a girl. The oldest of the group admired the owl engraved on the arch in a loud voice. I slipped behind the nearest column and peeked around to watch. I heard Wan Shi Tong coming. If only these people would be quieter. They didn't hear him coming until he was almost upon them. I scuffed my foot across the floor. They heard and ran behind the columns. Wan Shi Tong looked at the rope hanging from a window, then turned his head around towards the columns where the group hid.

"I know you're back there." He said.

There was silence for a moment, then the oldest man walked out.

"Hello! I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se university."

"You should leave the way you came," Wan Shi Tong began, unless you want to become a stuffed, head of anthropology."

Professor Zei rubbed his throat.

"Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?" The other three walked out from behind their hiding place.

The girl and one of the boys looked very similar, I assumed they must be siblings. They both wore blue clothing, and had the same dark skin and hair. The other boy was bald and had blue arrow tattoos on his head and arms.

"Indeed. I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things. And you are obviously humans, which are no longer permitted in my study."

"What do you have against humans?" The boy with the arrows asked.

"Hm. Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like that fire bender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy. So, who are you trying to destroy?" Wan Shi Tong leaned in close to them.

I remembered the fire bender that had come. He spent hours searching for something and when he was finished, he destroyed all of the information on the fire nation. I was also a little hurt by Wan Shi Tong's comment, 'Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans.' I wasn't like that, and I was human.

"What? No, we would never! We aren't trying to do anything like that." The boy with his hair up in a ponytail said, looking nervous.

"Then why have you come?" Wan Shi Tong asked.

"Umm. Knowledge for knowledges sake?" What a terrible liar.

"If you are going to lie to an all-knowing spirit, you should at least put some effort into it."

"I'm not lying! I'm here with the avatar! He'll vouch for me." Ponytail grabbed the boy with the arrows and pushed him in front of Wan Shi Tong.

"Yeah, I'll vouch. We will not abuse the knowledge in your library good spirit, you have my word." They all bowed.

Wan Shi Tong watched them for a moment, thinking.

"Very well," He replied, "I'll let you peruse my vast collection. On one condition. To prove your worth, you have to contribute a piece of knowledge."

Professor Zei stepped forward and handed Wan Shi Tong a book. Then the girl walked forward and handed over a water bending scroll. The boy with the arrows pulled a picture of himself out of his shirt. Finally, ponytail took a piece of rope out of his pocket and tied it into a knot.

"Ta Da!" He exclaimed, "Its a special knot!"

I rolled my eyes.

"You aren't very bright, are you?" I suppressed a giggle at Wan Shi Tong's comment.

"Enjoy the library." Wan Shi Tong said, then flew off.

The group turned and started to make their way into the rows of parchments and books.

"Bright enough to fool you." I heard Ponytail mutter under his breath.

They walked through the rows of shelves, pulling out books and scrolls. I followed them, careful to keep my distance.

"Hey Aang, did you know in a past life you were left-handed?" The girl asked the boy with the arrows.

"I always knew I was special." The boy named Aang smiled.

Ponytail walked around, pulling scrolls and parchments from shelves, glancing at them, then placing them in his bag. I didn't trust him. He walked up to a small table. Glass held down a piece of burned paper. Ponytail took out a sharp object and began to pry the glass off. He pulled the parchment out and tucked it into his bag. That thief.

I followed them towards the section on the fire nation. When Ponytail saw the burned remains, he became frustrated.

"Just when I think we are one step ahead of them, it turns out they beat us here a long time ago. I need to know what happened to the fire nation on their darkest day."

One of the foxes trotted past me and over to the group. He whined, trying to get Ponytail's attention.

"Hello, little wired, fox thing." He said.

"It seems it's trying to assist you." Professor Zei said.

The fox led them to a large, round door. I crept closer, wanting to get a better look. The fox slipped into a small door off to the side and disappeared. We waited for a moment, then the door opened. The group walked inside and I crept closer to the entrance. The fox trotted over to a lever on the floor and pushed it down with its front paws. The ceiling started to move. A huge, yellow, circle moved across the ceiling. The ceiling grew dark, and a white circle moved across a black ceiling with little white specks dotted everywhere.

"It's like a calendar. Sokka, put in the date from that parchment you took." The girl said.

"Shh! Not in front of the fox, he's with the owl." Ponytail said, putting his hand in front of his mouth.

The boy named Sokka walked to the dial and turned them. He pushed the lever and the ceiling began to move. I watched as the circle representing the sun and the circle representing the moon moved across the ceiling. The sun and moon stopped as they overlapped.

"Great you broke it." Aang said. I couldn't see his facial expression for his back was to me.

"It's not broken, the sun is behind the moon. It's a solar eclipse!" Sokka exclaimed.

I heard Wan Shi Tong coming. I backed away from the door and slipped in between the shelves as he came into view. I heard him talk about how predictable humans were, then the building began to shake. I ran down the aisles as fast as I could, eventually coming to the place where I usually slept. A small, tattered blanket was tucked in between the books on a nearby shelf. Ignoring it, I grabbed the small stuffed cat owl sitting atop the open book laying on the floor. Tucking it into my shirt top, I ran back to where I saw the strangers come in. The library was sinking, and I needed to get out.

I found the rope dangling where they had left it. I grabbed it and and began to climb it, but I stopped. I felt like I had to help these people, even if they had stolen from the library. I let go of the rope and landed on the floor. I listened for a moment, trying to pinpoint where they could be located. I heard Wan Shi Tong's talons scraping across the floor. I ran towards the sound. He was chasing the girl and a flying animal I hadn't noticed before. They ran and hid behind a shelf. I could hear the girl panting. Darting in front of Wan Shi Tong, I blocked his view of the girl's hiding place.

"What are you doing?" I was surprised by my voice. It was high, but strong and clear, despite not having been used in years.

"Taking back my library." He replied.

"Can't you just let these people go?" I pleaded.

His attention was diverted away from me. I followed his gaze. I spotted the animal's tail twitching in the aisle.

"At least I'll have one specimen added to my collection." Wan Shi Tong lunged at the tail. The girl darted out from her hiding place and ran towards the rope. I followed close behind them, trying to think about how I could help them. She suddenly stopped and turned to face the owl. She moved into a fighting stance and a look of determination and bravery covered her face. I joined her side and pulled out my small knife.

"Your water bending is useless. I've studied southern style, northern style, even foggy swap style." He stated.

I could sense the girl's surprise as we stood in front of Wan Shi Tong. The giant owl stretched his neck up as he prepared to strike. Out of nowhere, the boy named Sokka landed on top of Wan Shi Tong's head and the two came crashing to the ground.

"That's called Sokka style! Learn it!" The girl, and Sokka started to climb the rope. I stood in confusion, staring at the owl.

"Wait! Professor! Lets go!" Sokka called from the rope.

"I'm not leaving. Ive spent too long searching for this place," Professor Zei sat in the middle of a pile of books, "I could spend an eternity in here."

"Just go!" The girl yelled.

The rope started to sway as the owl regained consciousness. Aang flew by and caught them. He swooped down to my level, and I grabbed onto the girl's ankle. We flew out the window, Wan Shi Tong close behind me. We landed hard onto the sand. Another girl stood nearby, holding the library up. She let go and was flung backwards. I picked myself up and dusted he sand off of my clothes.

"Where's Appa?" I heard.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where's Appa?"

A girl with dark hair sat on the sand, head in her hands and her knees drawn up to her chest. She shook her head. Tears filled Aang's eyes.

"You lost Appa?!"

"I didn't lose him! Sand benders snuck up on me and stole him while the library was sinking!" The girl stood up.

"How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them?!" Aang's voice grew louder.

"I told you! They snuck up on me and the library was sinking! You guys were still inside!"

"You could have come to get us! I could have saved him!"

"I can hardy feel anything out here! The sand benders snuck up on me and there wasn't any time!"

"You didn't care! You've never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!"

The girl with her hair in a braid walked forward. She put her hand on Aang's shoulder, "Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives."

"Well who's going to save us now Katara?" Sokka asked. His back was turned to us. "We'll never make it out of here."

"That's all any of you care about! Yourselves! You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!" Aang stormed away and knelt down onto the sand.

"We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now." Katara said.

"I'm going after Appa." Aang took off.

"Aang! Wait!" Katara ran forward a few steps.

"Hey kid," Sokka walked closer to me, "do you think we could dig up that owl and he'll give us a ride?"

I shook my head slightly, unsure as how to answer.

"Sokka, don't bother her. I'm sure she's frightened. We need to start walking." Katara turned to me, "Come on, you can stay with us until we can get out of this desert."

Katara led the way through the desert. The sand was extremely hot underneath my feet, but I didn't complain. I didn't understand what Toph meant by 'I can hardly feel anything out here.' Her feet were bare and I wonder if her feet were burning as much as mine, but I wasn't about to ask.

Sweat rolled down my back as the sun heated up my body. My clothes stuck to my body in a sticky, hot, mess. I took a piece of my sash and tore it off, then used it to tie my long, dark brown hair off to one side. My right arm and shoulder were bare, my shirt only covering one shoulder. My pants stopped at my knees and sand clung to my skin from where I had fallen several times.

"Can't you watch where you're going?" Sokka turned to Toph, stopping.

"No." She replied.

"Right, sorry."

"Come on guys, we've got to stick together." Katara turned around.

"Katara, can I have some water?" Toph asked.

"Okay, but we've got to try and conserve it."

Katara spread her legs and bent them at the knees. She opened a small pouch that she had tied around her waist. Moving her hands in a fluid motion, she pulled the water out of the pouch and formed them into four small balls. She then moved them closer to us. Everyone opened their mouths and took the water balls in. I did the same. The water tasted off, it wasn't like the water I had at the library. I figured that this was how the water tasted out here, so I didn't say anything.

"You used this on the swamp guy!" Sokka exclaimed.

"It does taste kind of swampy." Toph agreed.

"I'm sorry, but its all we have." Katara closed the pouch.

"Not anymore! Look!" Sokka ran over to a cactus nearby and sliced it open. "There's water trapped inside these!" Sokka handed a piece of cactus out to Katara.

"I don't know." Katara said, unsure.

"Suit yourself. It's very thirst quenching though." Sokka said. "Drink cactus juice! It'll quench ya, and nothing's quenchier! It's the quenchiest!"

I took a few steps back. Katara took the cactus away from him, saying he had had enough. We continued walking, Katara having to grab Sokka's wrist to keep him caught up.

I heard a noise in the distance. It wasn't clear, but I definitely heard something. I turned around just as a huge gust of wind sent sand and dust into my eyes. My eyes stung and watered.

"What is that?" Katara asked.

"It's a giant mushroom! Maybe it's friendly!" Sokka shouted.

"Let's just keep moving." Katara grabbed onto Toph's wrist and we kept walking.

The sun started to set and our shadows grew longer. The sand started to cool and my feet no longer burned. A shadow passed overhead. Aang landed in the sand nearby, his back to us. Katara ran closer to him, saying she was sorry and that we needed to focus on getting out of the desert.

"What's the difference?" I heard. "We aren't going to survive without Appa and we know it."

I sat down in the sand and rubbed the bottoms of my feet, not paying attention to their conversation.

"Why don't we ask the circle birds?"

Circle birds? What were those? I saw Katara look up in horror. I did the same and saw four insect things circling over us.

"We are getting out of this desert and we're going to do it together." Katara said. "Aang, get up and everyone hold hands."

Katara took hold of Aang while Aang held onto Toph. I held Katara's other hand and walked by her side. Sokka brought up the end, letting the small, flying animal trail behind him. The bugs followed us, but eventually lost interest and flew away.

We walked until the sun had almost disappeared from view. We all let go of each other's hands. The sand was warm and soft beneath my feet, if only it felt like this during the day.

"I think we should stop for the night." Katara suggested.

Everyone collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.

"Is there anymore water?" Toph asked.

"This is the last of it. Everyone can have a little drink." Katara bent some of the water out of her pouch.

The flying animal jumped through the water, making it splash onto the ground.

"NO! Momo you've killed us all!" Sokka screamed.

"No he hasn't." Katara pulled the water out of the ground and back into her pouch.

I sat down on the ground, rubbing my throbbing feet. Katara took some papers from Sokka's bag and laid them on the sand. She explained that we would use the stars to guide us so we would be traveling at night and be resting during the day. I was glad that I wouldn't be walking on hot sand anymore.

"Just try and get some sleep." She said.

I curled up on my side. I felt my stuffed animal pressed against my skin. I felt comforted knowing my animal was near. Exhausted from a long day of walking, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I felt someone touch my shoulder. Confused, I turned over to see who was there. Katara stood over me. I saw her lips move, but I was so tired that I didn't hear anything. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My legs and feet ached from walking so much. I noticed Aang land on the sand, tossing Katara her pouch.

"Wow, there's hardly any in here." Katara looked disappointed.

Aang started yelling, saying that he did the best he could. I drew shapes in the sand, not listening. I noticed the group walking away. I scrambled to my feet, not wanting to be left behind. I tried to wipe off the sand stuck to my clothes, but my hands were coated in it. I was starting to hate sand.

I walked next to Katara. She held a map in her hands. White specks dotted the paper. Katara would look up every now and then, then back at the paper. I looked up, trying to see what she kept looking at. The stars. She was looking at a map of the stars. I tripped over my feet and fell flat on my face. Coughing up a mouthful of sand, I stood back up. Katara stopped and helped me back onto my feet.

"Are you OK?" She asked.

I nodded, brushing sand off my reddening skin.

After walking for a while, Toph tripped, falling onto her face.

"Crud! I am so sick of not being able to see where I'm going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?" Toph shouted, frustrated.

"A boat?" Katara asked, running over to a small object sticking up out of the ground.

Aang stepped forward and sent an air current to uncover the boat. Once uncovered, the group climbed onto the boat. Katara explained that it was one of the gliders the sand benders used and that it had a compass that could point us out of the desert. She told Aang to bend air into the sail so it could move across the desert.

After sailing for what felt like ages, we came across a giant rock. Katara said something about it being the magnetic center of the desert, whatever that meant. Toph got excited, and Aang mumbled something under his breath.

The sun was starting to rise when we arrived. We all climbed off of the glider and up the rock. I felt very small standing next to the giant rock. Toph collapsed on the ground and made an angel out of the rock. We all walked into a large cave. Gooey, yellow stuff hung off the side of the cave. Curious, I reached out to touch it. It was warm, and sticky. Disgusted, I pulled my hand back and wiped off the excess goo. Sokka grabbed a handful and licked it. Katara started to yell at him about how stupid he was.

"I don't think this is a normal cave. It was carved by something." Toph said. "And something's buzzing in here. Something that's coming for us!"

We turned and ran out of the cave, giant bugs following us. Aang hit some with blasts of air while Toph hit the ones that landed with rocks. Sokka swung his weapon around wildly, not coming into contact with anything. One of the bugs picked up Momo and flew off. Aang went after them, yelling that he wasn't about to lose anyone else out here. Katara, Toph, Sokka, and I started to make our way down the side of the rock. Katara would point Toph towards a bug and tell her to shoot rocks. When we reached the bottom, huge columns of sand shot up in the air, scaring the bugs back into their caves. Multiple gliders, like the one we had, surrounded us. People stood nearby, their faces covered with wrappings.

"What are you doing in our land with a sand bender sailor?" One man asked.

Katara explained that we had found the sailor abandoned in the desert and we were traveling with the avatar. She gestured to Aang as she spoke. I glanced at Aang. He was the avatar? But he was barely older than I was. Katara continued on, saying that our bison was stolen and we were headed to Ba Sing Se.

A younger man, looking similar to the first, spoke up. "You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailor?"

"Quiet!" The first man commanded. "If what these people say is true, we must give them hospitality!"

"Sorry father." The younger man said quietly.

"I recognize the son's voice. He's the one that stole Appa." Toph said, quietly.

"Are you sure?" Katara asked.

"I never forget a voice."

Aang ran forward, "You stole Appa! Where is he? What did you do to him?"

The younger man said that we were lying and the thieves. Angry, Aang sent an air current and destroyed one of the sailors.

"Where is my bison?" He demanded.

"What did you do?" The older man asked.

"It wasn't me!" The younger one protested.

"You said to put a muzzle on him!" Toph shouted.

"You MUZZLED Appa?!" Aang's arrows started to glow a blue-white color.

Furious, he destroyed the remaining sailors. A ball of air surrounded Aang, sending sand and debri flying through the air. Terrified, I pressed myself against the rock. I saw everyone starting to run. All except Katara. Sand flew into my eyes, blinding me. Slowly, the winds died down and the sand settled. I rubbed the sand out of my eyes.

Aang stood in Katara's arms. He pulled away, mumbling something to her. Another group of sand sailors were headed towards us. It didn't take long for them to get here. I stayed where I was, too scared to move. Katara walked over to me and put her hands on my shoulders. I jumped in fright.

"It's okay." She soothed. "Aang won't hurt you."

She took my hand and led me towards the others. They were climbing onto one of the newly arrived sand sailors. Katara and I sat down onto a nearby sailor and let our feet dangle off the back. I looked out at the desert. The giant rock had completely disappeared from view. We slowed to a stop. I turned around, wondering why we had. The desert was ending and you could see trees and grass in the distance.

"This is as far as our sailors can go." A man told us.

"Thank you." Katara said.

We all climbed off the sailors and made our way towards the trees. I felt grass beneath my feet. It was soft, and warm.

"Look! There's a waterfall!" Katara exclaimed.

She took off running, the rest of us following. We made our way down a small footpath by the waterfall. The waterfall emptied into a pool. The mist cooled my red skin. Katara and Aang took off their clothes and jumped into the water. I sat on a large rock next to Sokka. I could reach the water with my toes and I entertained myself by kicking my feet in the water. This was much better than being in the desert. I hoped we would never go back.


	4. Chapter 4

"So kid, what's your name?" Sokka tapped my shoulder.

I pulled my feet out of the water and tucked them underneath me.

"Avani." I answered. My own name sounded foreign against my ears.

"What were doing in the library?"

"I, uh, I lived there."

Sokka stared at me in disbelief. I didn't know what to do, so I settled on rubbing my peeling red arm. I felt Sokka's gaze linger on me for a moment more, then he turned away. I glanced up to see what had attracted his attention. He had pulled out a map and laid it on the rock.

I turned my attention to Katara, who was standing at the top of the cliffs surrounding us. She took a few steps backwards, then ran forward and jumped off the cliff and into the water below. A huge column of water shot upwards, then came crashing down, soaking us. I grabbed onto Sokka's arm, certain I was going to drown. After the water had gone away, I felt him staring at me, confused. I quickly let go of his arm and scooted towards the edge of the rock.

"Sure, five thousand year old maps from the spirit library. Just splash some water on them!" Sokka held out the map he had been studying.

"Sorry." Katara bent the water off of the map.

Sokka climbed down off of the rock and laid the map on the ground. Aang, Katara, Toph, and I gathered around it.

"So did you figure out what route we're going to take?" Aang asked, bending over the map.

"I think so. We just got out of the desert, so we must be here. And we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here." Sokka pointed to spots on the map. "It looks like the only thing connecting the two is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass."

"You're sure that's the best way to go?" Toph asked, crossing her arms over her stomach.

"It's the only way. I mean, it's not like we have Appa to fly us there."

"Shush up about Appa. Can't you at least try to be a little sensitive?" Katara scolded Sokka.

"Katara, it ok," Aang had sat down on the ground and pulled his knees to his chest, "I know I was upset about Appa before, but I just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se and telling the earth king about the solar eclipse."

"Oh. Well I'm glad your feeling better." Katara said.

"Then to Ba Sing Se we go. No more distractions." Sokka stood up and put the map away.

I noticed three people walking towards us. A man, and two women waved at us, saying hello. We walked closer to them.

"Are you guys headed to Ba Sing Se?" Aang asked.

"Yes. We're trying to get there before my wife, Ying, has her baby." The man ran a hand over the older woman's belly.

"Great!" Katara said. "We can travel through the serpents pass together!"

Ying and her family's faces changed. "The serpents pass? Only the truly desperate take that deadly route."

"Deadly route. Great pick Sokka!" Toph punched Sokka's arm.

"But we are desperate." Sokka said, rubbing his arm.

"You should come with us to Full Moon Bay. Ferries take refugees across the lake. It's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se." The man said, putting his hands on his wife's shoulders.

"And it's hidden, so the fire nation can't find it." Ying said.

"Hm. Peaceful ferry ride, or deadly pass?" Katara put a hand to her chin.

Sokka glared at her. We followed Ying and her family to the bay. It wasn't far, so we didn't have to walk for very long. We walked into a dark tunnel. A rock wall stood in front of us. I was so confused. I didn't think these people knew where they were going. The wall suddenly went straight down, letting us into a huge cave-place. I wasn't entirely sure what to call it, so I was going to stick with calling it a cave.

People were everywhere. Babies were crying and adults looked defeated. My heart was broken. What happened to these people to make them this way?

"I can't believe how many people's lives have been uprooted by the fire nation." Katara said, looking out at all the people.

Ying and her family left us and we got in a long line. Two things were bugging me. I decided to ask Katara, since she seemed to know what was going on.

"Katara." I said quietly.

"Yes?" She turned to look at me.

"What happened to these people?"

"The war. Did you not know about the war?"

"I've been at the library since I was around four or five. I guess not."

"Well I tell you about it when we get on the ferry, okay?"

"Wait, what's a ferry?"

"It's a boat."

I turned away from Katara and looked around. I noticed a small boy around my age staring at me. I caught his eye and we both looked away. I couldn't help but glance back, and apparently, neither could he. I giggled, something I have never done before. He smiled at me, a big, happy, smile.

"MY CABBAGES!"

I quickly turned towards the front, wondering who had screamed. I saw a man being picked up and carried away by two men dressed in brown and tan uniforms.

"NEXT!" A woman's voice yelled. We stepped forward.

"Um, five tickets for the ferry to Ba Sing Se please." Aang said.

"Passports?" The woman asked.

"Uh, no one told us we had to have passports."

"Don't you know who this is? He's the avatar!" Sokka tried to help.

"Bah, I see fifty avatars a day. And by the way, not a very impressive costume." The woman pointed to a group of people dressed like Aang.

I lost interest and turned around, looking for that boy. I didn't see him and I figured he must've gone off somewhere. I felt Katara move away from me. She had started walking away, following Aang and Toph. I ran to catch up to them. Sokka handed me a small piece of paper.

"Don't lose it kid." He said. "You need that to get on the ferry."

I nodded and gripped the paper tightly.

"Suki!" I heard Sokka say.

"Sokka, its good to see you!" A girl wearing the uniforms from before stood in front of Sokka. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a hat rested on her head.

She led us up some stairs to a small platform overlooking the whole area. She leaned against the railing while the rest of us sat down on some benches.

"You look so different now, without your makeup. And the new outfit!" Katara said.

"That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them." The girl named Suki said.

"Are the other Kyoshi warriors around?" Aang was standing near her, his hand resting on the railing.

"Yeah, after you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and have been here ever since. So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?"

"Appa's missing. We hope to find him in Ba Sing Se." Katara said.

"I'm so sorry. Are you doing okay?" Suki and everyone else looked at Aang.

"I'm doing fine." Aang said.

I heard Ying's voice call to Aang. She said that their belongings had been stolen. Aang offered to talk to the lady for them. We hurried back down to where the lady was. Aang walked up to the lady and began talking to her.

I was bored so I looked around, hoping to catch that boy again. I spotted him nearby, taking care of a woman and her newborn baby. He handed her some water and she took it, thanking him. He turned and walked over to another woman. She was trying to quiet her children, who were crying loudly. The boy knelt down next to one of them and began to speak in a quiet tone. He reached forward and tickled the child's stomach. The child laughed and the mother thanked him. The boy felt me watching him and he turned around to meet my gaze. We both exchanged smiles before Sokka grabbed my arm and began to drag me away.

Sokka complained about how he couldn't believe that they had given up their tickets and were going to go though the serpents pass. Suki came running to catch up to us, saying she was coming too. She wore a green dress with a yellow thing on her head. Her face was painted white and her eyes were red with black outlining them. Sokka asked her if she thought is was a good idea, but then said he was glad she was coming. We continued until we were out of the tunnel and on our way to the serpents pass.


	5. Chapter 5

"This is the serpents pass? I thought it would be more twisty, like a serpent."

We stood in front of a narrow and long strip of land. It towered over us, making me feel small.

"Look at this writing, how awful." Ying had moved over to look at some scratches on a pole nearby.

"What does it say?" Toph asked.

Katara walked over to the pole and looked at the scratches. "It says 'abandon hope'."

"How can we abandon hope? It's all we have." Ying put her head onto her husbands chest.

"The monks used to say that hope is just a distraction, "Aang said, turning his back to us, "so maybe we do need to abandon it."

"What are you talking about?" Katara asked.

"Hope isn't going to get us into Ba Sing Se, and its not going to find Appa. We need to focus on what we are doing right now. And that's getting across this pass." Aang walked forward until he was standing underneath the arch.

"Okay." Katara said reluctantly. "If you say so."

I followed the group as they walked under the arch and down the pass. We walked for a little while, making small conversations amongst ourselves. Suddenly, a rock gave way and fell into the water below. A ship was sailing nearby. They saw the splash and sent a fireball towards us. Aang jumped off the path and sent an air current to redirect the fireball back to the ship. It hit the ship just as another fireball was sent our way. The fireball crashed into the earth above us and sent a bunch of rocks tumbling down towards Sokka and Suki. Sokka shoved Suki out of the way, and he was just about to be crushed when Toph bent some rock to block the earth tumbling down.

"Suki are you OK?! You have to be more careful!" Sokka picked suki up off the ground and the two hurried off.

Toph mumbled something under her breath, then she ran off. I followed close behind.

A few hours passed and the sun began to set. We set up camp on a large, flat ledge. I sat on a blanket the group was letting me sleep on. Sitting back in my heels, I took my stuffed animal out of my shirt. It was dirty and one of its wings was falling off. I gently pushed the wing against its body, hoping it would magically stick back. It didn't of course, but I didn't know what else I could do. I was suddenly tired. I lay on my side and stroked the stomach of my stuffed animal, eventually falling asleep.

~o0o~

"Avani. Wake up. It's time to get moving."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Everyone was already up and putting away the blankets and other things. I scooted off my blanket and rolled it up. I noticed that my stuffed cat owl was missing. I stared at the spot where I had last seen it, willing it to reappear. When it didn't, I stood up and handed the rolled up blanket to Katara. She took it and put it away. I went back to see if my toy had rolled away from me during the night.

"Avani! Lets go!" Toph called to me.

I spun around and found everyone walking away. I hurried to catch up to them. I guess I would never see my cat owl again.

A small section of water separated the land we were standing on, and the one we needed to get to. Katara told everyone to get in a single file line. I stood behind Sokka while Katara and Aang bent a large air pocket around us. Fish swam around the pocket in large groups. Momo jumped off of Toph's shoulder and into the water, chasing the fish around. A huge shadow passed over us.

"What is that thing?" Katara asked.

The shadow suddenly dove through the pocket. Water quickly filled the pocket. I screamed and water filled my mouth. Toph bent the earth up until we were above the water. I fell to my knees and began to cough up water. When I could fully breathe again, I stood up. A large, green, thing was circling us. It shot up out of the water and hissed at us. I watched Aang take off on his glider and distract the serpent. Katara turned the water into an ice path. I hesitated. Everyone started across the ice towards the other side. I slowly started across the ice. I slipped and fell on my face. Instead of standing back up, I stayed on my hands and knees and began to crawl towards everyone else.

"Toph! Avani! Come on!" Sokka yelled to us.

"Actually! I'm just going to stay on my island where I can see!" The was a crash behind me. "Okay! I'm coming!"

I was halfway across the ice path when the serpent crashed down on top of the ice. I felt my shirt snag on the serpent, then I was pulled downward into the water. I didn't have any time to scream or take a breath. I kicked and thrashed around, trying to get free. My head was starting to hurt, and my lungs screamed for air.

Just when I thought I couldn't hold on for any longer, the serpent shot up into the air. I gulped in mouthfuls of air. I grabbed onto my shirt and began to pull. I spotted Aang flying towards me on his glider.

"Aang! Help!" I screamed, still yanking on my shirt.

The serpent whipped around to face Aang. My shirt ripped and then I was flying through the air. I knew I was screaming, but I couldn't hear it. My back hit the water and pain shot up my spine.

I was going to drown. At ten years old, I was going to die.

Just as I was about to slip out of consciousness, I felt someone wrap their arm around my waist.


	6. Chapter 6

I heard my name being called. It sounded so far away and I was so tired. I was vaguely aware of my body being shaken. I heard my name again, this time it was louder. There was more voices, all sounded scared. I was suddenly aware that I couldn't breathe, and that someone was pushing on my chest. I felt water surging up into my mouth. I opened my eyes and turned over on my side, coughing up the water. Someone was rubbing my back. I lay on the ground, panting.

"Hey, you're okay, Avani." Katara's voice was soothing.

"You had us so worried." Suki knelt down next to me.

I leaned back on my elbows, slowing down my breathing. I was okay. I was alive.

"Come on, we need to get away from here before that serpent comes back." Sokka said.

"Sokka, Avani needs to rest for a bit. She almost drowned." Katara gave Sokka a look.

I didn't want everyone waiting because of me. I tried to sit up further, but I got dizzy. I brought a hand up to my head. Sokka was silent for a moment, then he knelt down and scooped me up in his arms.

"Now we can get moving?" He asked, looking at Katara.

"Avani? Are you going to be okay?" She asked me.

I nodded. Sokka adjusted his arms and we started walking. I felt bad that I was the only one that wasn't walking.

We hadn't walked for very long when we reached the end of the pass.

"There's the wall!" Sokka said. I brought my head off of his chest and looked into the distance. A huge wall stretched for miles.

"It's nothing but smooth sailing from here!" He said confidently.

"Oh No!" Ying clutched her stomach.

"What?" Sokka asked.

"The baby's coming."

Sokka set me down on my feet. "Now?! Can't you just, hold it in or something?"

"Sokka, calm down. I've helped Gran-Gran deliver lots of babies back home." Katara said. "Aang, get some rags. Sokka, go get some water. Toph, I need you to make an earth tent, a big one."

Toph bent the earth to make a huge tent around Ying and her family. Aang went through the supplies, searching for rags. Sokka hurried off to go get the water. I knelt down next to Aang and helped him gather the rags.

"Thanks Avani." He said, handing me the rest of the rags.

I brought them into the earth tent and handed them to Suki.

"Thank you." She said.

I left the tent and sat down near Aang. Toph was propped up against the wall. Sokka was coming up the path carrying the water. He walked into the tent and a moment later, we heard a thud. Toph went inside the tent and dragged him out. She smacked him and he opened his eyes.

"Huh? What happened?" He asked.

"You fainted." Toph replied.

We sat in silence for a while, listening to Ying's painful cries and Katara's soothing voice.

"It's a girl!" We heard Katara say.

"So, you want to go see the baby, or are you going to faint like an old lady again?" Toph asked Sokka.

"No no. I'm good." They stood up and walked inside the tent.

I watched Katara walk out and over to Aang. They talked for a minute, then the two of them came back. I followed them into the tent. Ying was holding a very small baby. A smile was on her whole family's faces.

Everyone commented on how healthy she sounded and how beautiful she was. Except for Sokka, who said it was squishy looking. I had to agree, the baby did look pretty squishy, but I wasn't about to say anything.

"I've been going through a really hard time lately, but you people have made me, hopeful again." Aang said, wiping away tears.

"I know what I want to name our daughter. Hope." Ying said, looking at her baby.

We left the family alone so they could get adjusted and Ying could rest for a bit. Aang left to go find Appa in Ba Sing Se, and Suki went back to join the other Kyoshi warriors.

"Lets get going." Sokka said. He finished packing up the supplies.

We were nearing the wall when Aang came back.

"Aang, what are you doing here? I thought you were looking for Appa?" Katara said, confused.

"I was, but something stopped me. Something big. Come on, I'll show you."

Aang and Toph bent a patch of earth up the wall. As we traveled up the side, we spotted a huge object making its way towards the wall. We stepped off the rock and onto the wall.

"Hey! What are you people doing here? Civilians aren't allowed on the wall." A man told us.

Aang stepped forward. "I'm the avatar. Take me to whoever's in charge."

We said goodbye to Ying and her family. The guard led us into a very large and open room on the wall. A different man sat behind a desk.

"It is an honor to welcome you to the outer wall young avatar. But your help is not needed."

"Not needed?"

"Not needed."

The man went on to tell us that many people have tried to break through the walls, but none have succeeded. I lost interest and stared out at the oncoming drill. A group of men attacked the drill, but they were easily beaten.

"Do you want the avatar's help now?" Toph asked.

"Yes please." The man said, his head down.

The group of men were brought in and Katara went to work. She took out some water and placed it on one man's arm. The water started to glow and the man was able to move his arm again.

"Who did this to you?" She asked.

"Two girls ambushed us. One hit me with a couple of jabs and then I couldn't earth bend. And then she cartwheeled away."

"Ty Lee." Katara said. "She knows the human body. It's like she takes you down from the inside."

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Sokka said excited. "That's how we can take down the drill! By taking it down from the inside!"

"Avani, you should stay here." Katara said to me.

I was disappointed, but I also knew that there wasn't much I could do anyway. I watched them go down towards the drill. I leaned over the wall, trying to see what they were doing. They sent up a dust cloud and I couldn't see them anymore. The dust cloud went away and I couldn't see them at all. I figured that they were inside the drill.

I turned and sat down, with my back against the wall. I sat like that for a few hours, waiting. The wall shook and I stood up, startled. The drill was making its way through the wall. What was taking them so long? I spotted Aang dodging some rocks that had been sent down. He yelled something up to the general, but he obviously didn't hear him.

"General! I think he wants you to stop shooting!" I ran over to him. He waved me off and told the earth benders to keep shooting rocks.

Aang took some water out and started to cut into the metal. I looked around to see what I could do to help him. I spotted a girl running towards him, shooting blue fire at him. I picked up a small rock and threw it at her. It missed. Momo flew up and perched on my shoulder, and I rubbed his head.

Aang and the girl started to fight, and I leaned over the side of the wall, trying to see better. More rocks were shot down and I screamed at the general to stop. He didn't listen to me, but it was worth a shot. I saw the girl shoot some fire and Aang, and he was flung backwards. He hit the wall and fell on his stomach. The drill moved forward and Aang was almost underneath the wall. The girl picked him up and held him against the wall, ready to hit him with a fireball. Aang blocked her hit and sent her backwards. A huge mess of dirty water exploded around them, making them slide off the sides of the drill.

"Go get Aang." I told Momo. He flew off and grabbed Aang by the back of the shirt and pulled him back up onto the top of the drill.

Rocks flew downwards at the drill. Aang cut into one, turning it into a triangular shape, and wedged it into where he had made his cut. He then used his air bending to make his way up the wall. He turned around and began to run down the wall at full speed. He hit the rock and the drill exploded, making water and dirt fly everywhere. I ducked and pressed myself against the wall just as everyone else was covered with the dirty water.

"That's what you get for not listening to me." I said in a sing-song voice to the general, who was wiping the dirt-water off his face.

Toph, Katara, Aang, and Sokka made their way up the wall until they were standing on top. I ran over to them.

"Great work today team avatar!" Sokka said.

"It's not gonna catch on Sokka." Katara said.

We turned and made our way into the city, Sokka giving group name suggestions until we were off the wall.

We managed to catch a train just before it left for the city. We sat down on the chairs and leaned back, all thankful to be finally sitting down. It was getting dark and Katara said that we wouldn't be at the city until the next day. I rubbed my eyes and leaned back against the seat. This had been a very eventful day. Katara reached into the bag and pulled out a small bundle.

"Here. I saw it was broken and I fixed it for you. I kind of forgot to give it back." Katara handed me my stuffed toy.

"Thank you Katara." I said, placing the toy in my lap. I ran my finger over the once-broken wing.

"It must be really special to you."

"Yeah, I've had it for as long as I can remember."

I pulled the toy closer to me, still running my fingers over its belly and wings. A memory passed through my mind. I saw a box being opened and the toy was inside. The memory was so clear, as if it had happened yesterday. I smiled and ran my fingers over the toy's head.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: DarkSecretWaterbender, I just want to thank you. I really wasn't sure about this story, but you have made me want to keep going with it! Thank you and enjoy!**

"Look! The inner wall!" I heard Katara's voice.

I opened my eyes and looked out the window in the direction everyone else was looking in. Somehow during the night, I had made it onto Sokka's lap. He held onto my waist as I poked my head out the window to get a better look. The sun was high in the sky, and I figured it must be around noon. Katara and Sokka began talking, but I wasn't paying attention.

"Weird stuff happens to us." I heard Sokka say. He pulled me back into the train and twisted me around until I was facing Katara. A large man sat between Sokka and Toph, a piece of food in his mouth.

"We'll find Appa, Aang, don't worry." Katara said.

"It's a big city." Aang replied.

I climbed off of Sokka's lap and into the seat next to Katara. I pulled the window down and stuck my head out. The train went through a short tunnel in the inner wall, then we were in the city. Buildings were everywhere. This was certainly different from the library.

The train slowed to a stop and we got off. Toph grumbled about being back in the city. I didn't see what she had against the city, there was so much to see. A woman wearing a yellow and green dress walked towards us.

"Hello! My name is Joo Dee. I have been given the great honor of showing the avatar around Ba Sing Se. You must be Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Avani. Welcome to our wonderful city. Shall we get started?" Joo Dee asked us.

Sokka said that they needed to see the earth king immediately. Joo Dee seemed to not hear what he said. She said to begin our tour. She led us to a carriage and ushered us inside. She began to talk about the different rings and who lived in each one. I really didn't care about who lived in the different rings, I just wanted to go explore.

I got bored and began to mess with Momo's tail. I made sure not to hurt him, only twirling it around my finger, and no one seemed to mind. I stopped when Momo turned to face me and began chattering. The carriage stopped and Joo Dee said that we were at our new home. Everyone jumped out of the carriage and made their way up the front steps. I stood at the bottom of the steps, staring at the house. It looked so familiar. I tried to remember where I had seen it before.

"Your request for an audience with the earth king is being processed and should be put through in about a month!" Joo Dee said cheerfully.

"A month?!" Sokka asked.

"Six to eight weeks actually. Now come, we must see your new home."

Joo Dee led us inside the house. It was large and beautiful.

"Isn't it nice?" She asked us.

I left the group, exploring the house. I couldn't put up with that lady's grin any longer. It was so irritating. The house had several rooms, each decorated the same way.

"Avani!" I heard Sokka call.

I ran out of the room I was in to where everyone else was.

"Come on."

"Are we going to see the city?" I asked, getting excited.

"Sort of." Katara answered.

We all piled into the carriage and we set off. Aang pointed out a pet shop, and we stopped and got out. The group stood at the front desk and asked the man behind it some questions. I busied myself by playing with the animals. There was a cat owl that looked exactly like my stuffed animal. I reached up to stroke its wing, but it turned and bit my finger. I quickly withdrew my hand, making a mental not to not touch one again. A small spot of blood appeared on my finger where it bit me. I rubbed my finger on my shirt, and almost immediately, the blood disappeared.

"Come on Avani. We're leaving."

Our next stop was at a school. It was huge, and people walked around carrying scrolls and all wearing the same clothes. The boy everyone had been talking to suddenly got up and hurried away. We continued our search, each place more boring than the next.

We finally got back to the house, having called off our search for the day. Joo Dee told us to get some rest and then she left in the carriage.

"Hey, come with me." Sokka said to us. We followed him over to the house across the road.

He knocked on the door and a timid man answered it. He told us to not mention the war and to stay away from the Dai Lee, then he shut the door. We turned and walked back to our own house and went inside.

Someone came by and handed us our dinner. We ate it without talking much and then we went to bed. There were enough bedrooms in the house for each of us to get our own. I climbed into my bed and set my stuffed cat owl on the pillow next to me. The blankets were so soft and comfortable, and I was asleep within minutes.

I woke up the next morning confused. For a moment, I didn't know where I was or how I got there. Then I remembered. I got excited and quickly got out of bed. I grabbed my toy and walked into the main room. Everyone was already up and were siting around. Katara went outside and came back in, holding a piece of paper.

"I know how we can see the earth king!" She said excitedly.

"How?" Aang asked.

"The king is having a party tonight for his pet bear!"

"You mean platypus bear?"

"No, it just says bear."

"This place is weird." Toph said.

"We can sneak in with the crowd, since the palace will be packed." Katara rolled up the paper.

"It won't work." Toph said, leaning back in the pillow.

"Why not?"

"A real society crowd would spot you a mile away. You've got no manners."

"Well you're not miss lady fancy fingers."

"I learned proper behavior and chose to leave it. You never learned anything."

"But you learned it! You could teach us!" Sokka said.

"Yeah, I'm mastering all four elements, how hard can manners be?" Aang took the curtain off its rod and put it around himself like a robe.

Aang and Sokka continued to try and be fancy, bowing to each other until they bonked their heads together.

"Katara might be able to pull it off, and Avani is still young enough to learn. But you two would be lucky to pass as bus boys." Toph stood up.

"But I feel so fancy." Sokka said from his place on the floor.

"Come on Katara. Avani." Toph led us away into another room and we began to learn how to be fancy.

The sky was starting to get dark when we had finished getting dressed. Katara, Toph, and I wore similar dresses. They were a yellow with green detailing. Our faces had makeup on and our hair was put up. We stepped out of a nearby room to face the boys.

"Wow. You look beautiful." Aang said, blushing. He was looking at Katara.

"We'll get into the party and then figure out a way for you to get in through the side gate." Katara said as we walked out the door.

The sun had completely set by the time we reached the party. We got into a long line that was moving quickly.

"Invitation." A man held out his hand.

"I think this will do." Toph held out her passport.

"No entry without an invitation. Step out of line please." The man said.

"Look! The Pang's and the Yung Sou Hans are in there waiting for us! I'm going to have to tell them who didn't let me in."

"Step out of line please." The man ordered us.

We stepped out of line. Katara led us over to a man that had gotten out of a carriage.

"Sir? I'm sorry to bother you, but my cousin lost our invitation. She's blind. Do you think you could help us? Our family is inside and I'm sure they're very worried." Katara said.

"I am honored." The man replied. "Please come with me."

The man led us past the man that didn't let us in and into the party. I noticed Katara and Toph stick their tongues out at the man as we passed and I suppressed a giggle. Once inside, the man told us his name, Long Feng.

"I'm Qua Mai. This is Jing. And that's Don." Toph yanked on Katara's hair when she heard her fake name.

"Now where is your family? I'd love to meet them." Long Feng said.

"Uh, I don't see them right now, but I'm sure we'll find them soon. Thanks for your help." Katara led us away.

"Don't worry. As your escort, it would be dishonorable to leave you ladies without finding your family first. We'll keep looking." Long Feng led us through the crowd.

Toph found Aang and Sokka. They were dressed as bus boys.

"Another crab puff please."

"You found us!" Aang said.

"I'd know your little footsteps anywhere twinkle toes." Toph replied.

"Thanks for letting us in." Sokka looked at Katara.

"Sorry, but the man who escorted us won't let us out of his sight." Katara said.

Sokka looked over Katara's shoulder, "What guy?"

I spotted Joo Dee coming and poked Katara's arm to warn her.

"What are you doing here? You have to leave immediately or we'll all be in terrible trouble." Joo Dee started to push us towards the door.

"Not until we see the king." Sokka said.

"You don't understand. You must go!" Joo Dee shoved Sokka towards the exit, causing him to bump into Aang. The contents of Aang's jar flew through the air and landed on a nearby woman. Aang used his air bending to try and dry the lady off.

"Oh, the avatar. I didn't know the avatar would be here."

People turned to stare at Aang. Joo Dee's smile vanished and I stepped a bit closer to Katara, hiding my own smile in her sleeve.

"Watch this everybody!" Aang jumped onto the long table and began to entertain the crowd.

A minute later, a large box-looking thing entered the room. I watched Aang go down the long table on his air ball. My mouth was suddenly covered and I was brought backwards. I saw Toph and Katara being led away into a large room. I was pushed after them. My mouth was uncovered as Aang, Sokka, and Long Feng entered.

"Why won't you let us see the earth king?!" Sokka asked. "We have information that could defeat the fire nation!"

"The earth king had no time to interfere with the military." Long Feng said, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"This could be the most important thing he's ever heard!" Aang protested.

"The most important thing to his royal majesty is maintaining the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se. My job is to oversee the rest of it, including the military." I had no clue what he was talking about.

"The king is just a figure head." Katara said.

"He's your puppet!" Toph shouted.

"Oh no. His majesty is an icon, a god to his people." Long Feng put his hand up.

"But we found out about a solar eclipse, you could lead an invasion-"

"Enough!" Long Feng cut Sokka off. "It's a strict policy that the war not be mentioned within the walls."

He continued talking, but I didn't know what most of the words meant, so I stopped listening. The door opened and a lady walked in.

"Come with me please." She said, the annoying grin on her face.

"What happened to Joo Dee?" Katara asked, taking a step back.

"I'm Joo Dee and I'll be your host as long as your in our wonderful city."

We were escorted back home by the new Joo Dee. We all went to bed, exhausted from our day.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up early the next morning. The sun was just starting to rise in the sky. I got up from my bed and turned around. I pulled the blankets back up until they met the pillows. I smoothed the blankets down just as I had seen Katara do. I took a step back and admired my work. For my first time making a bed, I think I did a pretty good job. Holding my stuffed animal, I sat down on the bed.

"You need a name." I said quietly. "Um, how about Ren?" The toy just stared back at me. "Yeah, I like that name too."

I stood up and made my way into the main room, careful not to wake anyone up. The house was quiet, and I sat down on the windowsill. I watched the sun rise. The golden light from the sun seemed to make everything glow. I heard a door open from somewhere in the house. The footsteps sounded light, and I guessed it was Aang. I turned around just as he entered the room. He looked surprised for a moment.

"Good morning Avani." He said.

"Good morning." I replied.

"You're up early."

"Mmhm."

Aang left the room. I didn't mind though, I liked being alone.

The sun rose higher in the sky and everyone started to get up. I got up from the windowsill and went into Katara's room. She was making her bed, and hadn't noticed me. I stood in the doorway, silent.

"Oh!" She jumped.

"Sorry." I said.

"It's fine." She replied.

Her hair was down. It was long, and wavy. I followed her into the bathroom. Aang, Katara, and Sokka stood in front of the mirror. Katara started to braid her hair, while Aang and Sokka shaved their faces. I looked down at my own long, tangled, dark brown hair.

Katara noticed me running my fingers through my hair. She finished what she was doing before turning to me. She picked up her brush and stood behind me. She took the ends of my hair and began to run the brush through it. It took a few minutes, but she eventually got all the tangles out. I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see my reflection. I couldn't remember a time when my hair wasn't tangled or messy.

"Wait, I'm not done yet." Katara put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back down.

I didn't know what Katara was doing, and I couldn't see myself in the mirror.

"Okay, all done."

I stood on my tiptoes. I could only see the top of my head. I've never really noticed how short I was. Katara left the room to go wake up Toph. Sokka noticed my struggle to see myself and he lifted me up onto the counter.

Katara had braided my hair into two long braids down my back and tied them off with light green ties. I ran my fingers over the braids.

"You like it?" Katara asked from the doorway.

"Yes." I answered, smiling.

I climbed down off the counter and followed Katara into the main room. Aang was lying on the railing while Sokka sat on a cushion. I sat down near the window and took Ren out of my shirt. Sokka, Aang and Katara talked for a few minutes, then Toph joined us in the main room.

"Toph and I are going to have a girls' day out." Katara said.

"Have fun." Aang replied.

"Is Avani going with you?" Sokka asked.

Katara looked at me. "Do you want to go with us?"

I thought for a moment, then shook my head. "No thanks."

"Okay." Katara and Toph left.

I set Ren in my lap and smoothed down its fur. We sat in silence for a while, then Aang got off the railing.

"I'm going to go have a look around the city." Aang said, then he left.

I stared out the window, my mind going off into space.

"What are you looking at kid?"

I jumped. Sokka had gotten up from the cushion and was now standing next to me.

"Oh, um. Nothing." I said.

"Why don't the two of us go explore the city?" He suggested.

"Oh can we?" I asked, excited.

Sokka smiled and nodded. I stood up and tucked Ren inside my shirt. We left the house and waked down the street.

"Where should we go first?" Sokka asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "As long as I get to see stuff, I'll be happy."

We walked for a while, then we found some shops. Sokka found a bookstore and the two of us went inside. My head filled with memories at the sight of the books and scrolls. I left Sokka's side and went in search of a book with pictures.

I had been looking through a book when Sokka found me. He handed me a small book. I set the first one back on the shelf and opened the other one.

"There aren't any pictures." I said, still turning pages.

"Does it have to have pictures?"

"Yes."

"You can't read, can you?"

I shook my head. Sokka took the book from me and set it on the shelf.

"Maybe we can teach you."

"Really?" My face lit up.

Sokka laughed and nodded. We left the store and continued walking down the street. We passed by a clothes shop. A pale yellow dress with a light green bow on the side was sitting in the window. I stopped walking and stood in front of the window, looking at the dress. Sokka stood by my side for a moment, looking at the dress, then at me.

"You know, you need some new clothes. Yours are a little dirty and torn." Sokka led me into the shop.

I looked around, wide eyed. Clothes of different sizes and colors were everywhere.

"Hello! Can I help you find something?" A lady came up and asked us.

"Yes, Avani needs some new clothes." Sokka said.

The lady looked at me. She titled her head and put her hand on her chin.

"Okay, my name is Makoma. Is there anything you would like to see her in?"

"It doesn't really matter to me."

Makoma nodded and led us into a small room. The room had a full length mirror in a corner. A few chairs were leaning against a wall and a screen was placed in another corner.

"I will be right back." She said, then left.

I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself. My shirt was torn at the waist and it was no longer the dark green color it once was. My pants were torn at the knees and had holes in them. The yellow sash that was tied around my hips was no longer yellow and had several holes. My skin was no longer red, it was almost back to its original pale color, but it was a few shades darker.

Makoma came back into the room, holding a bundle of yellow and green. She handed the bundle to me and told me to go put them on behind the screen. I obeyed, walking behind the screen and taking off my clothes. I set Ren on the floor next to the pile of clothes. I picked up the first piece of clothing. They were pale yellow shorts and when I pulled them on, they stopped just above my knees. The next piece was a pale yellow dress with short sleeves and green detailing. The dress stopped just past my knees and the sleeves barely covered my shoulders. I stepped out from behind the screen.

"Oh, don't you look adorable?" Makoma said.

I looked at myself in the mirror and smoothed down the skirt of the dress.

"Do you like it Avani?" Sokka asked me.

I smiled and nodded. Makoma stood behind me and did a few touch-ups on the dress. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Makoma said.

A boy walked in. He looked around my age and had shaggy, light brown hair.

"Here are the shoes you wanted Mom." He said, holding out the shoes.

"Thank you Rylan." She said, taking the shoes.

Makoma handed the shoes to me and I put them on. They were the same shade of yellow as my dress. The boy left the room. Makoma turned to Sokka.

"Do you like it?" She asked him.

Sokka nodded. "How much for it?"

"Ten silver pieces." Makoma answered.

I walked back behind the screen and picked Ren up off the floor. I followed Sokka and Makoma to the front of the shop. Makoma stepped behind a desk while Sokka dropped a few silver pieces on the desk. Makoma stared at my hands, a weird expression on her face.

"My most common customer had a daughter with that exact toy."

Sokka looked down at my hands and I pulled Ren closer to my chest.

"But I'm sure several children have that toy." She said.

Sokka and I walked out of the shop and continued down the street.

"Thank you Sokka." I said.

"No problem." He replied.

The sun was starting to set. Sokka took out his boomerang and threw it. It quickly came back and he caught it with ease. He stuck his head in a nearby window I stopped walking and tried to peek over his shoulder, but I couldn't see.

"Poetry." Sokka sighed.

An animal suddenly kicked Sokka and he went crashing through the window. I rushed to the window and peeked in. Sokka stood on a small platform and a girl stood nearby. Several others were seated below the platform. A lady stood up and began to talk. I had no idea what they were saying because the animal behind me was making so much noise. The two talked for a moment, then the woman sat back down. A man dressed in black and pink walked up onto the platform, picked up Sokka, and threw him out the door. I ran around the side of the building to see if he was okay.

"Poetry." He said, his hand resting on his face and his elbow on his knee. I laughed and Sokka got up.

"Let's get back to the house." He said, and I nodded in agreement.


	9. Chapter 9

I woke with a start. My breathing and heartbeat were fast. I lay in bed for a few minutes, trying to slow down my breathing and remember what my dream was. When my breathing had returned to normal, I got up from my bed and made it. The newly made bed was starting to look like Katara's. I walked out into the main room. Katara and Aang had left the house and Sokka was laying in the floor, drawing. Toph lay on her back, her knees crossed over each other. I knelt down next to Sokka, looking at his drawing. I tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out what his drawing was.

"You want to draw kid?" Sokka asked me.

I nodded. Sokka handed me a few sheets of paper, ink, and a brush. He went back to his own drawing. I looked down at the sheet of paper, then back up. I decided on drawing Toph. Laying down on my stomach, I dipped my brush in the ink and began to paint.

When I finished, I sat back on my heels. I looked at my picture, feeling pretty proud of myself. Several of Sokka's drawings were scattered across the floor. I crawled over and sat in front of him. He looked up at me.

"Done already?" He asked.

I nodded and handed him the paper.

"Wow, this is actually pretty good." He said.

I smiled, feeling proud of myself. Katara and Aang opened the door at that moment and entered the house.

"We found a printer to make our posters!" Katara held up a sheet of paper.

"Hey, I though designing the lost Appa posters was my job. I've been working all day on my Appa." Sokka held up one of his drawings.

"Is that what that is?" I asked.

Everyone burst out laughing.

"Sokka, the arrow is on Appa's head!" Aang said.

"That is his head!"

"Why are feet coming out of it?" Katara asked.

"Those are his horns! I haven't seen him in a while okay?"

"It looks just like him to me!" Toph said.

"Thank you! I worked really- Why do you feel the need to do that?"

"Lets just stick with the professional version." Katara said.

Aang pulled a stack of papers out of the bag. "Lets get started!" He said excitedly.

"You go ahead Aang. We'll stay here and see if anyone comes by with news about Appa."

"Okay! See you later!" Aang said as he took his glider and rushed out the front door.

Katara and Sokka set up a game on the small table while Toph threw a ball at the wall. I pulled Ren out of a pocket that I had discovered on my dress and set it on the floor. I took another piece of paper and began to paint Katara's and Sokka's game.

I had just finished when Aang came back into the house. He asked if anyone had come by with news and Katara told him to be patient. Aang sat down and put his head on the table. There was a knock at the door and Aang rushed to answer it. Joo Dee stepped into the house. She told us that we weren't allowed to put up posters without permission. Aang got mad and started yelling at her. He slammed the door in Joo Dee's face and I scooted backwards a few inches. Toph suddenly blew out the side of the house. I stared at the hole with wide eyes. The group started to leave the house and I quickly followed.

We started to put posters up on the walls of the city. Sokka said that we should split up and told Toph that she should go with him. She got mad and put up a poster to show him that she could put up posters too. Toph asked if it was upside-down, then said she would just go with Sokka. Everyone went off in their own direction. I made sure to stay within hearing distance of them.

I heard Katara yelling and water splashing. I dropped the glue and posters and ran in the direction of the yelling.

"Jet's back."

A boy with dark hair stood near Katara. "I'm here to help you find Appa." The boy said.

"Katara, we have to give him a chance." Aang said.

"Alright. But we're not letting you out of our sight!" Katara said, pointing a finger at the boy.

Jet led us into a large barn. Everyone spread out in the barn while I stayed near the entrance. Toph picked up a piece of fur and told everyone that he was here. Aang ran over, took the piece of fur from Toph and ran his hands over it. A man appeared, sweeping the floors. He told us that Appa was on Whale Tail island. The group looked at the map for a moment, then we headed out of the barn.

"We can take the train out to the wall, but then we have to walk." Sokka said.

I sighed. Great, we get to walk.

"Don't worry! On the way back we'll be flying!" Aang said, excited.

"We're finally leaving Ba Sing Se. Worst city ever!" Toph said.

"Jet!" I spun around to see who was calling to Jet.

"I thought you said you didn't have your gang!" Katara said.

"I don't!" Jet spun around just as someone ran into him, giving him a hug.

"We were so worried! How did you get away from the Dai Lee?" The person asked.

"The Dai Lee?!" Katara yelled.

"I don't know what she's talking about!"

"You got arrested by the Dai Lee a couple of weeks ago. We saw them drag you away!" The girl said.

"I can't have gotten arrested! I've been living peacefully in the city!"

Toph got down and put her hand on the ground. "This doesn't make any sense, they're both telling the truth."

"That's impossible!" Katara said.

"No it's not. They both think that they're telling the truth because Jet's been brainwashed!" Sokka pointed a finger at Jet.

The group surrounded Jet and we dragged him into a small room.

"We need to find a way to jog his real memory."

"Maybe Katara could kiss him?"

"Why don't you kiss him Sokka."

"Hey, just an idea."

"A bad one."

This went on for a few minutes, then Katara pulled some water out of her pouch and placed her hand on the side of Jet's head. The water started to glow. I leaned against the wall, getting bored. Jet suddenly stood up.

"Lake Laogai." I heard.

We left the room and started walking towards the lake.

~o0o~

"So where's this secret headquarters?" Sokka asked.

We stood on the banks of a large lake. I didn't go near it, the Serpent's Pass still fresh in my mind.

"Under the lake."

"There's a tunnel over there by the shore." Toph bent some rock up from underneath the water.

Everyone followed Toph down the rock path. She opened the tunnel with her earth bending.

"Avani, are you coming?" Katara asked me.

"No, I'm waiting out here." I sat down on the ground.

"Okay."

The group disappeared down the tunnel, leaving me and Momo outside. I watched the water lap at the shore and listened to the quiet sounds of the outside world.

"Do you think they'll be gone long?" I asked Momo.

Momo replied by chattering at me. I didn't know what that meant, so I just stayed silent. I put Ren in my lap and ran my fingers over it, smoothing down its fur. Momo began to chase some small bugs. I hadn't noticed how many bugs there were until I watched Momo for a minute. I lay down in my back and looked up at the sky.

_"Momma! That clouds looks like a kitty!"_

_"What about that one?"_

_"That one looks like a flower!"_

I smiled, looking at the sky. I remembered lying on my back with two other people, watching the clouds pass overhead. I lay like that for what felt like a few hours, but was probably only half of that. I heard a low roar. Sitting up, terrified, I spotted a very large animal in front of me. Momo stopped chasing the bugs and flew over to the animal, landing on its head and chattering excitedly. The animal looked just like the animal on the posters from earlier.

"Appa?" I said quietly.

The animal roared again, this time gently. I stood up and placed my hand on its head. The fur was soft and fluffy underneath my hand. Appa suddenly turned his head, gave a low growl, then jumped into the air and flew off.

I heard someone coming up the tunnel. My first thought was the group was coming back. An old man appeared out of the hole, and turned around, helping someone else up. I ran and hid behind a nearby tree, peeking out from behind it. The old man helped a younger boy out of the hole. The boy didn't look to be much older than Sokka. He held a blue mask in his hands.

"Leave it behind." The old man said.

The younger one dropped the mask in the water and it sank. The two then walked away and disappeared over the hill.

A few moments later, Appa landed on the shore, The group on his head.

"Avani!" Katara called.

I stepped out from behind the tree and ran over to them.

"Avani, this is Appa. Appa, Avani." Aang said.

"Climb on!" Sokka said.

I hesitated, then started to climb up Appa's side and onto his head. We took off and I grabbed onto Sokka's arm, terrified.

"Don't worry, it'll get better." He said, and I buried my face in his arm, hoping we would be landing soon.


	10. Chapter 10

I felt Appa land on the ground. I peeked out from Sokka's arm and saw that we had landed on a small island in the middle of the lake. We all climbed off of Appa. The group started to talk about whether to go to the earth king or to leave.

"That's probably the Dai Lee searching for us." I looked up and spotted some boats in the distance.

"Lets fly." Katara said.

We climbed back onto Appa's back and we started flying. I placed myself underneath Sokka's arm and gripped Appa's fur.

"Can we please buy a new saddle? Riding bareback is terrifying!" Toph shouted. I mentally agreed with her.

"There it is. That whole thing is the palace." Sokka said after we had flown for a while.

"We have to be careful. Long Feng probably warned the king that we're coming." Katara said.

"I think we're just going to sail right in-" Sokka's sentence was cut off by a flying rock. It missed us by a few feet.

More rocks flew in our direction, and I buried my face back in Appa's fur. I felt Appa land on the ground and Sokka's arm left me. I looked up as everyone jumped off. I quickly followed. Everyone started running towards the building. I tried to find my knife, but it wasn't with me. I must've lost it somewhere. We continued running and I made sure to stay out of everyone's way.

Katara used her water bending to knock some soldiers into the water and Aang froze them in place. Toph made the stairs flatten, then she and Aang bent a large rock up the stairs, taking us to the top. Once inside the large building, we were attacked by more soldiers, but they were quickly beaten.

"Now that's a door. It's gotta go somewhere." Sokka said. He had climbed on top of a pile of fallen rocks.

We followed him down a large hallway. A pair of huge, fancy doors sat at the end of the hall. Aang used his air bending to knock the doors down. A man sat on a fancy chair inside the room, and Long Feng stood nearby.

"We need to talk to you!" Aang demanded.

"They're here to overthrow you." Long Feng said to the man.

"We're on your side!" Sokka said. "You have to trust us!"

"You invade my palace and break down my fancy doors. You expect me to trust you?" The man asked. "If you're on my side, drop your weapons and stand down." I assumed this man was the king.

Everyone dropped their weapons. A few soldiers shot some earth-hands at us and they attached to our hands.

"Detain the assailants." Long Feng commanded.

"But we dropped our weapons. We're your allies." Sokka said.

"Make sure the avatar and his friends never see daylight again."

"Wait, the avatar?" The king asked.

"Over here!" Aang raised his hands.

"I'll hear what he has to say." The king said.

Aang stepped forward and began to explain that there was a war going on for the past one hundred years. He said that the Dai Lee had kept it secret in order to control the king.

"Your claim is difficult to believe." The king said.

Long Feng leaned over and talked quietly into the king's ear.

"I have to trust my advisor."

The soldiers started to lead us out of the room, but Sokka turned around.

"I can prove he's lying! Ask him to lift his robe."

"What? I am not disrobing!" Long Feng shouted.

Aang blew a large amount of air out of his mouth, causing Long Feng's robe to fly up.

"Right there! Appa bit him!"

"That happens to be a large birthmark. Thanks for showing everyone." Long Feng said, pushing his robes back down.

"There's no way to prove where those marks came from." The king said.

"Of course there is!" Sokka exclaimed.

Our hands were set free while Appa was brought into the room. Appa opened his mouth while Long Feng was forced to lift his robe. Aang compared Appa's teeth with the markings on Long Feng's leg.

"Yep, that pretty much proves it." The king said.

We all cheered. The king said it didn't prove the conspiracy, and we groaned. He then said it was worth looking into and we agreed.

We got on the train and headed towards the lake. There were a lot more people on it than last time. Sokka, Katara, and the king talked the whole ride, while I sat on my knees and looked out the window. The countryside flew by and before I knew it, the train stopped and we were at the lake.

Toph bent up the path where the tunnel used to be. "It's gone!" She exclaimed.

"Well that's awfully convenient." The king said. "Long Feng was right, this was a waste of time." He turned and started up the hill.

I tugged on Sokka's arm. "The drill." I whispered.

"Wait! If you come with us, this time you can ride on Appa!" Sokka said.

The king stopped then came back to us. They all climbed on Appa. I hesitated, then climbed up too. We flew towards the outer wall. I held onto Sokka's arm and kept my eyes shut the whole time.

"It's still there!" Sokka shouted.

I opened my eyes. The sun was lower in the sky and we were at the wall.

"What is that?" The king asked.

"A drill Made by the fire nation to break through your walls."

Appa landed on the wall and we climbed off. I leaned over the wall and looked down at the drill. A smaller wall was built around the drill, and the dirt-water had cemented the drill in place.

"I can't believe I never knew." The king said, his hands gripping the wall.

"I can explain your majesty. This is just a small construction project." Long Feng appeared.

"Then why is there a fire nation insignia on your 'construction project'?" Katara asked, gesturing to the drill.

Long Feng hesitated. "Well it's imported of course. Surely you don't believe these children!"

The king glanced at us and we looked at him with hopeful eyes.

"Dai Lee, arrest Long Feng. I want him to stand trial for crimes against the earth kingdom." The king commanded.

Long Feng's eyes grew wide. The Dai Lee grabbed his shoulders and pulled him backwards.

"You can't arrest me! You need me more than you know!"

"Looks like Long Feng is long gone!" Sokka laughed. "Oh, I've been waiting to use that one!"

_~o0o~_

"I want to thank you for opening my eyes. We are at war, with the fire nation." The king said.

Sokka and Aang stepped forward and began to explain that a comet was coming and that the fire benders would have unbelievable power. Sokka told the king that before that would happen, the sun would be blocked out by the moon and the fire benders would be helpless. He said that we needed to attack on that day. The king agreed and the small group cheered. I stayed quiet.

"I'm sorry for the interruption." A man walked in.

"This is general Howe. One of my highest ranking generals."

"We searched Long Feng's office. We found some things that will interest everyone.

We followed the general into a large room, and stood around a small table while the general brought a box over to us.

"There are secret files on everyone in Ba Sing Se. Including you kids." The general said.

I tilted my head a little to the side. How could they have secret files on me? I've lived in the library for more than half my life.

"Toph Bei Fong." The king handed a piece of paper to Toph, who handed it to Katara.

"It's a letter from your mom. She's here in the city and wants to see you!"

"Long Feng intercepted our letters from home? That's just sad." Toph said, shaking her head.

"Aang. This was attached to the horn of your bison when the Dai Lee captured it."

"It's from the eastern air temple." Aang said, holding the scroll in his hands.

"Is there a letter for me and Sokka, by any chance?" Katara asked.

"I'm afraid not. But there is an intelligence report that might interest you." a scroll was handed to Katara.

"A fleet of water tribe ships. Protecting the mouth of Chameleon Bay. It's Dad!" Katara shouted, beaming at Sokka.

I looked at the general and the king. I wanted to ask if there was anything for me, but I already knew the answer. There wouldn't be anything for me. Why would there be? I only knew Katara, Aang, Toph, and Sokka. The general and the king left us alone in the room.

We sat down in a circle on the floor. I looked at my lap while everyone else talked excitedly.

The next morning, I watched as Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Toph said goodbye to each other. Sokka noticed me standing off on my own.

"Avani! Aren't you going to say goodbye to us?" I walked closer.

They pulled me into a hug. I stood there, letting them hug me. They pulled away. "Not much for hugging, huh?" Toph asked.

"I guess not." I said quietly.

They laughed, then Sokka and Aang climbed on Appa and flew away. Toph left shortly after.

"Katara, would you attend the meeting with the Coucil of Five?" Someone asked Katara. She agreed.

"Avani, you should probably go back to the house. Is that okay?" Katara asked me.

I nodded. Katara left with a general to go to the meeting, and I went back home.


	11. Chapter 11

I shut the door behind me as I walked into the house. I sat on the windowsill and looked out the window into the street. The afternoon sun cast a warm-looking glow onto the ground. I watched as birds and various other animals wandered the streets. Two people, a man and a woman, walked down the street at a slow pace. The woman had dark brown hair that went to her upper back and a slim body. The man had a lighter shade of brown hair with some gray strands. They both walked with their heads held high, but there was a certain air about them. They seemed... sad, sort of.

The woman turned and looked at me through the window. I made myself as small as I could, trying not to be seen. Her eyes were a light blue color, sort of looked like mine. The man touched the woman's arm and the two continued on. Something in the back of my head told me to follow them. I took Ren from its place on the windowsill and placed it in my dress pocket.

I shut the door behind me and followed the two strangers, making sure to stay hidden behind buildings. They walked in silence down the never-ending road. There was something very familiar about these people. The way they walked and the way they looked and dressed.

The two walked up the steps of the very last house on the street. I hid between two houses on the opposite side of the road. The woman stopped at a box attached to the wall near the door and pulled out a small scroll. The box had a cat owl painted on it. The woman and the man went inside the house. I waited for a moment, then crept around to the side of the house and found an open window. A small box was set in between the houses. I pushed it underneath the window and climbed on top of it. Then I peered in the window and saw the man and woman sitting at a small table, their backs to me.

"Terra." I heard the man say in a deep voice.

The woman, Terra, took a deep breath. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by barking. A large animal jumped up on the window. I screamed, jumped off the box and ran around the backside of a nearby house. I continued running until I was back home.

I collapsed onto my bed, exhausted from the run. I pulled Ren out of the pocket and set it on the pillows. That house. Those people. The painting on the mailbox. They all were so familiar. I knew I hadn't passed that house before. I lay on my back and stared at the ceiling, letting my mind wander.

Ren. The strangers. They passed through my mind, but they seemed, younger, sort of. I closed my eyes so I could picture it better. Terra was sitting on a cushion in a room similar to the main room of this house. Ren in tiny hands. My tiny hands. A knock at the door. Terra getting up to answer. A cry of sadness. A small body dressed in white.

I opened my eyes, overwhelmed from what I saw. My mind told me to close them again. Whether out of curiosity, tiredness, or both, I'll never know, but I closed them.

The room again. Everyone seemed older. Ren in Terra's hands, a needle and thread going in and out of it. The front door opens and the man walks in. Then I'm in a carriage, going over bumpy roads. Now I'm in the desert, surrounded by plants and small desert animals. There's a large window in front of me, low to ground. Tiny hands grip the edge and then I'm inside the library.

I sit up and open my eyes. I was so confused. Ren was no longer on the pillows. It had fallen on the floor. I reached over the side of the bed and picked it up. The window in my room was dark, and I realized that I had fallen asleep. I wanted to go back to that house. To see those people. But I knew that would be a bad idea. I would just have to wait until morning.

I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so I left my room and went into the main room of the house. Momo lay curled up in a ball on the table, snoring lightly. I sat down by the window and watched the moon travel across the sky. The moon was full and light up the ground with a soft blue-white glow. I tried to sort out the choppy memories. Tried, but failed.

Sometime during the night, I fell asleep at the window. When I woke up, the sun was high in the sky and Momo was chattering at me. The door opened and Aang, Sokka, and Toph walked in. I stood up, confused.

"Hey, Avani. Have you seen Katara?" Sokka asked.

"No, I thought she was in her room." I answered.

"There's no one else here." Toph said.

"Katara is in trouble!" Aang exclaimed. "I knew it."

"Someone's at the door." Toph said. "I know who it is actually."

A knock sounded at the door. Sokka opened it and the old man from the lake stood in front of us.

"I need your help." He said.

**A/N: So this is a really short chapter. And it's kinda vague, at least I think it is. But you don't remember things clearly from when you were four and younger. Anyways, next chapter is longer!**


	12. Chapter 12

"I need your help." The old man said.

"You guys know each other?" Aang asked, horrified.

I walked closer until I was standing at Aang's side, while Toph gave a short explanation on how the man and Toph had met.

"May I come in?" The man asked.

Toph nodded and he stepped inside the house.

"Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se." The man began.

"She must have Katara." Aang said.

"She has captured my nephew as well."

"Then we will work together to save Katara and Zuko." Aand crossed his arms over his stomach.

"Hold on a minute, you lost me at Zuko." Sokka said, walking to Aang's side.

"I know how you must feel about my nephew, but believe me when I tell you that there is good inside him." The man placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder.

"Inside him isn't good enough, why don't you come back when it's outside him too." Sokka pushed him away.

"Katara is in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance." Aang said.

"Um, can I ask a few things?" My high voice asked.

Toph and Aang looked at me. A slight shocked look crossed over Aang's face for a moment, then it was gone. It wasn't often that I spoke, and everyone knew it.

"Sure." Aang replied.

"Who's Zuko, and this man, and princess Azula?" I knew I would have found out eventually who they all were, but I felt like I had to know them now.

"Zuko is this crazy teenager who has tracked us all over the world and has tried to kill us, and this is his uncle, Iroh. Azula is his insane younger sister." Sokka explained. His tone told me that he didn't care for these three people.

I nodded, but not fully understanding. This explanation would have to do for now.

"I have brought someone with me who might be able to help us." The uncle walked outside onto the front steps.

A man was tied up and propped against one of the side railings. Toph bent some earth up and forced the new man into a standing position.

"Azula is plotting a cou to overthrow the earth king." The tied-up man explained.

"My sister! Where are they keeping Katara?" Sokka pointed his weapon at the man.

"In the crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se. Deep beneath the palace."

The group turned and started running towards the palace. I quickly followed, wondering why they didn't untie the man.

We reached the palace not long after we left the house. The group stopped for a moment to catch our breath. Toph bent down and placed her hand on the ground. I was still panting from our fast-paced run, so I didn't hear what she said.

"We should split up. Aang, you go with Iroh. And Toph and I will go warn the earth king." Sokka said.

"Wait, what do I do?" I asked.

"Oh, sorry Avani. I keep forgetting you're a part of our little gang. You can go with Aang, in case they need help."

I nodded slightly. Sokka and Toph set off towards the center of the palace, while Aang, Iroh, and I stepped into the hole Toph had started for us. Aang used his earth bending to make the hole deeper while Iroh lit a flame in his hand. We walked in silence for a while. I kept glancing at Iroh's hand. Somehow, the bending interested me.

"So, Toph says you give pretty good advice." Aang said as we tunneled deeper into the ground. "And great tea."

"What's on your mind?" Iroh asked.

Aang started to talk, but I didn't pay any attention. It didn't involve me, so I stayed out of it. As the two talked, I ran my hand along the wall of the tunnel. Suddenly, a gust of air put Iroh's fire out. My messy braids were blown behind my back and a few loose hairs attached themselves to my face. I pushed them away and stepped forward. A soft green glow lit up a huge underground cave. The glow came from some sort of rock. I placed my hand on a nearby glowing rock and ran my fingers over it. It was cool and smooth, with a few sharp points at the edges.

I heard my name being called. I looked up and saw Iroh and Aang walking down a path, and I hurried to catch up. We walked along a seemingly random path, until Aang bent a side of the wall away. We stepped through the newly made hole, and as the dust cleared away, I spotted Katara standing in front of a boy with dark hair. The boy had goldish colored eyes and one was covered by a pinkish mark. Katara ran into Aang's arms while Iroh pulled the boy into his own. I noticed Aang and the boy give each other a look of hatred, and I assumed that this was Zuko.

"Uncle! I don't understand. What are you doing with the avatar?" Zuko pointed at Aang.

"Saving you, that's what." Aang said.

Zuko lunged at Aang, but Iroh held him back. "Go help your other friends, we'll catch up." Iroh said.

Aang bowed to Iroh, then Katara, Aang and I left through the hole.

"We've gotta find Sokka and Toph!" Katara said as we ran towards the exit.

Suddenly, Aang turned and bent up a pile of rocks just as blue flames were shot in our direction. Katara ran out from behind and bent some water up to shoot at our attacker. I noticed Katara and Aang had stepped into a fighting position, and I did the same. We looked through the dust cloud for the attacker. A person leapt out and shot blue flames from her hands. Aang and Katara bent the water up above us to use as a shield.

Aang used his earth bending and the girl jumped down from a nearby column. She landed in between Katara and Aang and pointed her hands at the two of them. As we stood there, a blast of red flames was shot at the girl. We all snapped our heads in the direction that it came from and spotted Zuko. He shot more flames at Aang, who dodged them by creating air currents to use as shields.

Seeing the girl and Zuko stand near each other, I noticed that they looked similar. I figured that this must be Princess Azula. Azula shot her blue flames at us. Katara used her bending to prevent them from burning us. The two then began to fight. I kept my fighting position, and moved around so Azula or Zuko would have less of a chance to hit me. I didn't have my knife, and I didn't really know how to fight, so I knew I was useless, but I was going to stay unless Katara or Aang told me otherwise.

I watched as Katara made water close around Azula's arm, then her leg. She lifted Azula into the air and was about to throw her back down, but Zuko used his fire bending to cut the water apart. Azula left us, and headed towards Aang. I was about to call to him, but Zuko caught my attention by nearly burning my arm with his flames. I quickly stepped further back, while Katara and Zuko fought.

After about a minute, Azula appeared and shot a few fire balls at Katara and me. I didn't have any time to move out of the way, so I was blasted backwards. My back hit some rocks and the fire licked my skin. My head started to spin and I closed my eyes for a second, trying to make it stop. I heard Aang yell, and I snapped them back open. A lot more people had joined our fight. They were all dressed the same and I realized that these people were part of the Dai Lee. They dropped down around Katara and me, and I couldn't see Aang anymore. I turned to face the Dai Lee agents and kept my back to Katara's. She used her bending to knock them off their feet, while I dodged their earth bending.

A bright white glow appeared, followed shortly by the breaking of something. Katara and I turned our heads and saw Aang rising into the air. I immediately began to tremble, because I was terrified of Aang when he was in the avatar state. Then, there was a flash of lightening, and Aang went down. The glow disappeared, and Aang fell to the ground below. Katara used her bending to get to Aang before his body hit the ground. I ran over to them, and knelt beside Katara, who was holding Aang in her arms.

"You've got to get out of here! I'll hold them off for as long as I can!" I hadn't noticed Iroh join the fight.

Katara and I placed one of Aang's arms around our shoulders and stood up. Aang was heavy, but I didn't say anything, I just helped carry him. We waded into the water and stood at the base of a waterfall. I took a few breaths and told myself that I wasn't going to drown. Katara had me hold onto her middle while she bent the water around us to make ourselves go up to the top.

When we got back to the surface, Sokka, Toph, the king and his bear, and Appa were all running towards the hole Toph and Aang had dug. They spotted us and ran over to help. Katara and Aang sat on Appa's head, while everyone else climbed onto his back.

"Avani! Come on! We gotta go!" Sokka yelled to me.

I didn't move. My eyes were wide with terror and my heart was beating fast.

"Avani, come on! We aren't leaving you here. We have to stick together!" Katara called down to me.

I stayed still for a moment more, then quickly moved towards Appa. My hands gripped Appa's fur as I tried to pull myself upwards. Someone grabbed my ankle and yanked me back down.

"You aren't going anywhere!" A voice hissed.

I hit the ground and pain shot through my lower back. I squeaked in pain. I felt a strong hand grab a chunk of my hair, which had fallen out of the braids. The hand yanked me backwards. I spotted Sokka and Toph jump down off of Appa. I twisted around and tried to fight my attacker.

The strong, tough hand belonged to a Dai Lee agent. Several more had surrounded us. The agent put his other hand on my wrist and pulled me up. I bit his arm so hard that my teeth hurt. He cried out in pain and he let go of my hair. I ran to Appa and climbed up onto his back as fast as I could. Sokka and Toph climbed on shortly after, and Appa jumped off the ground and flew away from the palace.

I held onto Sokka's arm as we watched Katara pull a tiny bottle from around her neck. She bent a small amount of water out of it and placed her hand on Aang's back. The water glowed for a moment, then it disappeared completely. Tears filled Katara's eyes, and she bent over Aang's body. Aang's tattoos glowed a white color, then went back to normal. He groaned and Katara's face lit up. She pulled him into a hug and Aang closed his eyes again.

"He's going to be okay." Katara said softly and everyone took a breath of relief.

"The earth kingdom has fallen." The king said sadly as we flew past the inner wall.

**A/N: Told you that this would be longer! It's over 2,000 words, which isn't a lot for some writers, but its a lot for me and I'm pretty proud of myself! I've never gotten this far on anything I've ever written. Most of my stories are usually abandoned around the 5th or 6th chapters. So I thank DarkSecretWaterbender and Molly Grace 16, for reviewing and any and all peoples who have followed and favorited! Until next time!**


	13. Chapter 13

As we flew, Sokka, Toph, the king, and Katara talked quietly about what they were going to do and where they were going to go. I hugged Sokka's arm tighter as I watched the ground fly by. I wished to be back at the library. To be back with Wan Shi Tong and the knowledge seekers. This world was just too violent and scary for me. Appa flew all night long, and every so often, someone would doze off. But I didn't. I was still trying to get used to flying, and still a bit shaken from earlier. Suddenly, I felt very proud of myself. I didn't have my eyes closed this time, and had managed to fight a Dai Lee agent by myself. I smiled to myself and watched the sun rise in the distance.

It was around noon when Appa landed on a beach, and everyone climbed off. Sokka told me that we were at Chameleon Bay, and that his dad should be nearby. The king and Bosco said goodbye to us and we watched them walk away. Katara tended to Aang's back while talking to Sokka and Toph. They decided on going further down the beach in search of Katara's and Sokka's dad. Sokka and Katara picked up Aang and carried him down the beach. Momo flew ahead of them while Toph, Appa, and I followed.

We walked closer to a campsite. Several men had rushed forward to help us. Aang was taken away into a nearby tent and I didn't see him again. I was introduced to Katara's and Sokka's dad, Hakoda, and a friend of theirs, Bato. Hakoda and Bato had the same dark hair and dark skin that Katara and Sokka had. Katara, Sokka, and Toph told everyone what had happened at Ba Sing Se.

Later that evening, everyone sat around a large fire and we ate bowls of stew. A tent was set up for Katara, Toph, and me, but Toph decided that she would make her own tent and sleep in that.

The rest of the evening was quiet and slow. Sokka spent his time with his dad, while Toph and Katara relaxed by the fire. Momo curled up in my lap and went to sleep. I leaned against Appa's side and stroked Momo's body. My eyes grew heavy and I drifted into sleep.

I felt my body being lifted up. The arms that held me were strong and, in a way, comforting. I was vaguely aware of being set down on a thin mat and a blanket placed over me, then I fell back into sleep.

Sunlight peeked through the tent's opening. I opened my eyes slowly, getting used to the brightness. I had been moved into the tent sometime during the night. Katara was still inside the tent. She rolled up the mat she had been sleeping on and folded the blanket.

"Good morning." She said when she saw me watching her.

"Good morning." I replied.

I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Katara took the blanket off of me and folded it up. I rolled up the mat I had been sleeping on just as Katara had done, then pushed my tangled hair behind my ears. Katara steeped outside and I followed behind her. Sokka and Toph were already up, as were most of the other water tribe men.

"Morning Katara. Morning Avani." Hakoda said to us.

"Good morning." I answered.

"Morning." Katara said, not looking at her dad.

The two of us were handed bowls of leftover stew. I hadn't even started to eat when I heard someone shout that fire nation ships were approaching. Everyone dropped what they were doing and started rushing around. Sokka grabbed my arm and pulled me further up the beach.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Into the woods." Sokka replied.

We hurried into the trees and stopped at the bottom of a very tall and thick tree. Sokka lifted me up and placed me onto one of the branches.

"Climb this until you are out of sight, okay?"

"Okay, but why?"

"Just do it. Stay hidden and quiet until I come back." Sokka turned and ran back the way we came.

I carefully climbed up the tree's branches. It was almost like climbing the shelves back at the library. I continued to climb until I couldn't see the ground anymore. The beach was visible from the branch I was on. I carefully sat down on it and let my feet dangle. My arms were wrapped around the tree's middle to keep myself from falling off.

The fire nation ships were near the beach, and everyone had gotten on the water tribe boats. For a long time, nothing happened. They just sat there, unmoving. Then, a fire nation ship shot a large fire ball at one of the water tribe ships. It hit and our boat burst into flames. Water rose and put out the growing fire, definitely Katara's doing. I could hear men's voices yelling at one another, shouting orders and occasionally a cry of pain. The battle lasted for hours, and eventually the ships disappeared from view.

I figured that the battle must be over, so I started to make my way down the branches. I had gone down about four branches when I remembered what Sokka had said. He had told me to stay put, so I stopped where I was. The ground was out of sight, and so was the beach. Everything was quiet, except for the occasional chirp of a bird.

The day passed slowly. I wondered where Sokka was and why he hadn't come to get me. My stomach kept growling, a low but clear sound. I had gotten so used to eating actual meal, instead of small bits of food that the knowledge seekers had gotten for me.

_What happened? Why hasn't he come for me?_ My thoughts interrupted my growling stomach.

I wanted to climb down and search for them. I wanted to see if they were okay. I wanted to, but I knew that I couldn't. What if they were still fighting? I would just have to wait.

Evening came and went and there was still no sign of Sokka. What if they left me behind? I mean, I was only someone who hung around them. I don't think I'll ever be a true member of their group. I couldn't fight. Or do anything helpful. I was just going to be in the way. If Sokka wasn't back by morning, I was going to climb down and find my way back to Wan Shi Tong.

I was so hungry that my stomach hurt. The moon was high in the sky by this time, and the woods were lit up with a white glow. I had decided long ago that Sokka was not coming, but I was staying up in the tree until morning anyway. I was trying my best to get some sleep, but a tree was not the best place to take a nap.

"Avani." My head shot up from its resting place and looked down.

"Are you up there? It's me, Sokka."

I relaxed a little and started to climb down. I could see Sokka's blue eyes staring up at me as I came closer.

"What took so long?" I asked while slipping down onto the last branch.

"I'll tell you on the way back." Sokka reached his arms up to me and I jumped down from the beach.

He set me down on the ground and we started back to the beach. Sokka started to tell me why it took so long. He told me that they had captured one fire nation ship and it was going to be our disguise. The water tribe men were going to split up. Half were going to take the water tribe boats and get our friends and allies, while we would be going to the northern air temple and gather our friends there in the fire nation ship.

"So how did your day go?" He asked playfully.

"Im starving, I sat in a tree all day and I thought you guys forgot about me and left me behind."

"I'm sorry Avani. When we get back I'll give you a huge bowl of food. And we would never leave you behind on purpose."

I nodded in understanding. We got back to the beach and Sokka led me up a walkway leading to the ship's deck. I learned that Katara and Toph had already gone to bed. Sokka gave me the bowl of stew from this morning and I ate it quickly. After I was finished eating, Sokka led me down a maze of hallways until we stopped at a metal door.

"This is your room." Sokka said, opening the door.

The inside of the room was decorated with red and gold and black. A small bed sat against the wall farthest from the door, and a huge cloth-looking thing hung over it. On the cloth was a large flame. The room had no windows, and I was glad that it didn't. Sokka walked away, leaving me alone in the room.

I sat down on the bed and felt the blankets. They were soft and thin. I climbed underneath them and laid my head on the large pillow, falling asleep within minutes.

**A/N: I'm sorry that it has a lot time changes or time jumps or whatever you wish to call them. I just needed something until I could get to where I wanted. Anyways, I hope you all have enjoyed this so far!**


	14. Chapter 14

"Katara?"

"Yes Avani?"

"Would you braid my hair?"

"How about I teach you how?"

Katara motioned for me to sit down next to her on the bed. She picked up her brush and ran it through my tangled hair. When the brush was able to run through my hair without stopping, Katara separated it into two section. She then separated one of the two sections into three more parts. Katara told me that I needed three sections for a braid, then showed me how to twist the three sections over each other.

"Now you try on the other side." Katara placed the other section of hair in my hand.

I tried braiding the section just as Katara had showed me. The result was a messy twist that didn't look anything like a braid.

"Just keep practicing. It'll get better." Katara redid the braid. "Now come on. Sokka, Toph, and I are going to teach you how to fight."

Katara and I walked through the halls until we made it up to the large deck. Sokka and Toph were already waiting for us. The four of us stood in the center of the deck and I was taught the basics of fighting. There was proper stance, blocking, dodging, and attacking. The three took turns attacking me while I would either try and block or dodge.

We did this for hours. It was hard and tiring work. My muscles burned and sweat rolled down my face and back. I wanted to stop, but that wasn't possible. I had to be able to take care of myself.

"Okay, I think that's enough for today." Katara said eventually.

I sat down on the deck and wiped the sweat off my face. Dinner was served shortly after we stopped. I sat near Sokka and ate quietly.

"Avani, remember when we were in Ba Sing Se and the two of us were at that book shop?" Sokka asked.

"Yes." I set down my empty bowl.

Sokka pulled a scroll out of his bag and passed it to me. I opened it and looked at the paper. There were lines of paint on it, obviously words, but I didn't know what it said.

"What is this for? You know I can't read." I set the paper in my lap and looked at Sokka.

"I know. That scroll is going to help you learn. And so are we." Sokka gestured to himself, Katara, Hakoda, Bato, and the other people.

It took a moment for what he said to sink in. When I realized what he meant, my face broke out in a large grin.

"Really?!" I almost screamed with happiness.

Everyone laughed and Sokka nodded. "We can start after dinner."

"Well hurry up!" I rolled the scroll up.

After the bowls had been cleared away, Sokka took the scroll from me and laid it on the deck. He explained to me that this was only the alphabet, so there wasn't going to be any words. He told me that the alphabet was the basics of words, just like stance and blocking was the basics of fighting. Sokka showed me what lines made what letter and the sound each letter made, then had me repeat it back to him. I found that learning to read wasn't as hard as I imagined.

It was very late at night when we stopped our reading lesson. I went to bed, tired from my day of training and learning, and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

My whole body ached the next day. Bruises had formed on my back, rear, and legs from where I had fallen while training. I took the scroll of letters from my bedside table and laid it across my lap. I went over the alphabet slowly, making sure to get the sounds right.

When I had finished, I decided to get up and go out onto the deck. I moved slowly, my whole body hurting. Once on the deck, I found out that we had docked during the night and were getting supplies. Someone told me good morning and handed me a small bowl of breakfast. I took it and ate quickly. Sokka, Katara, and Toph were nowhere to be seen. They must be in town.

I walked over to the edge of the ship and leaned over the railing. I didn't look down at the water, for if I did, I knew I was going to get scared. A warm, calm breeze blew my hair back out of my face. It had fallen out of its braids during the night while I slept. I closed my eyes and stood at the edge of the ship for a while, completely forgetting my pain and the world around me.

A summer breeze blew sand away from tiny hands. Not too far away stood a small sandcastle. Gold water lapped at the sand. A large hand took one of my small ones, while the other was taken by a woman's hand. I was lifted up into the air and swung back and forth several times. Squeals of joy echoed through my head and I smiled.

~o0o~

The next few weeks passed quietly. Pipsqueak and The Duke had joined our invasion force after running into them while stocking up for supplies. We had gotten Appa a new saddle and everyone now had proper fire nation disguises. Everybody wondered when Aang was going to wake up, or if he would ever wake up.

Every morning and every evening I practiced my reading. During the day I would train with Sokka, Katara, or Toph, and over the weeks I had gotten stronger. Katara had started to teach me how to write as well. I wrote with my fingers, which worked just the same as ink and paper.

I spent a few minutes every evening standing at the railing of the ship. For a while, this world disappeared and there was nothing. Nothing but the warm breeze and the glow of the setting sun.

~o0o~

One morning was different than any other morning. There was a happier feel to the ship, which was odd. I got up from my bed and left the room. When I emerged onto the deck, I saw Aang sitting on the deck. Sokka was holding up a map and talking to Aang about the past few weeks.

"Aang! You're awake!" I squealed and rushed forward and hugged Aang gently.

"Hi Avani." Aang said.

Sokka was still pointing to a spot on the map, patiently waiting for me to finish.

I let go of Aang.

"Anyway, as I was saying, we crossed into the Serpents Pass a few days ago and we've seen a few fire nation ships, but none have bothered us." Sokka said.

I was handed a bowl of noodles and I sat down next to Katara and ate quietly. Hakoda and Sokka told Aang about the newer invasion plan. I didn't pay any attention since I had heard it so many times. Aang suddenly stood up and went over to the railing.

"The world thinks I'm dead? How is that good news? That's terrible!" Aang shouted.

"No, it's great! The fire nation won't be hunting us anymore. And they won't be expecting you on the day of black sun." Sokka said.

A ships horn sounded in the distance and everyone looked up. Another fire nation ship was headed towards us and obviously wanted us to stop. Appa was quickly covered with a large blanket and Aang, Toph, Katara, Sokka, and I hid in a stairway that led below the deck. The two ships stopped and three fire nation men boarded our ship. They talked to Bato and Hakoda for a while. I didn't pay any attention since I thought that nothing big would happen.

"They know!" Toph suddenly yelled.

She bent the metal and caused the three men to fall into the water. Katara ran forward and bent the water between the two ships and sent the other one away from us. We started sailing away and the other ship followed, sending giant fire balls at us. Toph responded by chucking pieces of rock at them. Aang, Sokka, and I stayed hidden while the battle went on. I couldn't see everything, only what happened on our side.

Something hit the ship so hard that the ship rocked to the sides. I grabbed onto a nearby pole and shut my eyes until the rocking stopped. Aang ran out of our hiding place and Sokka and I followed. We convinced him to go back into our hiding place.

"How we doin'?" Toph asked.

"Things couldn't get much worse." Sokka replied.

At that moment, the serpent shot up from the water. I screamed and ran into the ship and didn't stop until I was in my room and under the blanket. My body was shaking and tears of fear were rolling down my cheeks. I don't know how long I stayed underneath the covers, but it was long enough for myself to calm down. I didn't bother to wipe the tears away.

A knock sounded at my door, then it squeaked open. Someone sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on my upper back.

"It's gone now." Katara's voice sounded through the blanket.

I pushed the blankets back and sat up. I wiped the leftover tears off of my cheeks.

"We aren't going to let anything happen to you. I promise." Katara hugged me.

We sat in seance for a few moments.

"Why don't you come into town to get dinner with us?" Katara pulled away from me.

"I think I'll stay here."

"Okay, we'll be back soon."

I pulled Ren out of my pocket while Katara's footsteps grew quieter as she walked away. I crossed my legs underneath me and set Ren in my lap. It stared up at me with unblinking eyes. The alphabet scroll caught my attention. I grabbed it and unrolled it on the bed. The letters now stood out to me and I could recognize each one. I wrote each letter on the bed with my fingers.

I heard someone walking down the hallway. They were trying hard to be quiet. I stayed silent, waiting to see who it was. Aang passed in front of my door without a word.

"What are you doing?" I asked, causing Aang's head to snap in my direction.

"I'm just going onto the deck for some air."

Aang kept walking and I didn't think any more about the subject. I lay down on my belly and spread the scroll out in front of me. My fingers traced each letter that spelled my name onto the bed. A. V. A. N. I. _Hey, I made a word on my own without any help from Katara or Sokka._ I smiled and wrote everyone else's names onto the blanket. They might have been spelled wrong, but I didn't care.

My head found its way down onto the blanket. I rested it on my right hand and practiced writing with my left hand until I fell asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Someone shook me awake.

"Get up Avani. We have to leave. Aang's missing." The voice said.

I sat up sleepily and rubbed my eyes. Katara was rolling up the scroll and placing it and Ren in Sokka's bag. She took hold of my arm and led me up to the deck where Appa was waiting. I climbed into his saddle. Toph was already inside and Katara climbed up soon after me. Sokka was the last to join us.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"Aang ran off and we have to go find him." Toph answered.

"When did he leave?"

"Sometime after we left for dinner."

I held onto the side of Appa's saddle and looked out at the sky. It was partly my fault. I saw Aang leave, and I could have asked him more questions, or went with him. But how could I have known that he was leaving? I decided to let it go. As long as he wasn't hurt, it wouldn't matter.

~o0o~

We found Aang early the next morning on a crescent shaped island. The group hugged him tightly, then we all climbed back onto Appa and flew away. Katara and Aang made us a cloud cover while we searched for a place to hide. Aang pointed out a cave on a nearby island. Appa landed on the ground and we climbed off.

"Great job with the cloud camo, but next time lets disguise ourselves as the kind of cloud who can keep its mouth shut." Sokka said.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want a bird to hear us chatting up there and turn us in." Toph crossed her arms.

"Hey! This is enemy territory. Those are enemy birds." Sokka pointed up at a bird. It landed on his head and squawked at us.

We laughed and walked into the cave. Sokka told us that we were going to be living in caves until the invasion began. Katara said that we needed new clothes, and we didn't have to become cave people.

"Okay. Lets get some new clothes."

We found a building that had a lot of clothes hanging outside. The group ran down and began pulling clothes off of the strings they were hanging on. Once we had gotten all the clothes we needed, we headed back to the cave and got dressed.

I had grabbed a deep red dress that stopped at the middle of my thighs. The sleeves hugged my arms and ended at my elbows. Dark gold leggings went underneath my dress and stopped just passed my knees. I wrapped a sparkly gold sash around my waist and tied it into a bow on the side. The sash reminded me of the one I owned when I was at the library. Dark red shoes with gold around the edges were put on my feet to complete my new outfit.

I took Katara's brush from her bag and ran it through my hair. It undid the braids for me and left my hair wavy.

"How do I look?" I heard Katara's voice behind me.

I turned and saw Katara wearing a red half shirt with a red skirt over a pair of pants. Her hair was down around her shoulders, part of it was up in a bun.

"Your mom's necklace." Aang pointed out.

"Oh. Oh yeah. I guess it's pretty obviously water tribe isn't it?" Katara took the necklace off.

I put the brush back in the bag. The group decided to go into town for food and a few supplies.

We stopped at a meat shop somewhere in the small town. I didn't like the smell of it, so I stayed outside with Aang. Two men and a woman walked over to us. They were dressed the same and I figured that they were guards of some sort.

"We've caught you. It couldn't be more obvious that you two don't belong here. Next time you play hooky, you might want to take off your school uniform. And it's obvious that you are too young to be out of school, so come with us. The both of you." Aang and I were led away from the meat shop.

"Don't give them your real name." Aang whispered to me when we got to a large school building.

The two of us were separated. Aang was led towards one end of the school, and I was led towards the other. I was given a uniform and forced to change into them. The woman who was leading me to my classroom said that I could have my clothes back at the end of the day. She led me into a room full of children around my age. The teacher stopped giving a lesson and turned to face me.

"Is this a new student?" She asked.

The first woman nodded, then turned and left.

"Do you have a name?" The teacher had an unpleasant voice.

"Um, Nina." I had no idea how I came up with the name.

"Well Nina, take a seat behind Kiku." The teacher pointed to an empty desk and I obeyed.

The rest of the day was spent learning about the fire nation's history, learning music, and proper etiquette. Whatever that was. When the final bell rang, I was handed back my clothes and sent home. I walked through the courtyard, searching for Aang. He was talking to a girl on the other side and I ran over to him as fast as I could.

"I'm not a tattletale. My name's On Ji. I like your headband by the way." The girl saw me standing next to Aang. "Is this your little sister?"

"Uh, yeah. This is.."Aang's voice trailed away.

"I'm Nina." I said.

"Nice to meet you Nina."

A boy pushed his way through Aang and me.

"On Ji, you don't have to babysit the new kids." He put an arm around On Ji.

"Wow, you must be one of those popular kids I've been hearing about." Aang bowed to him.

"That's right 'friend'. I know you're from the colonies, so I'll say this slowly. On Jee is my girlfriend. Don't forget it." On Jee and the boy walked away.

"It was nice meeting you!" Aang called.

"Wow, he didn't beat you up! We were just on our way to play hide and explode. You wanna come?" A different boy had run up to us.

"I'd love to!" Aang said, and ran off with a group of kids.

I walked back to the cave alone. It wasn't a very long walk, but it was nice to be alone for a while. I walked slower, not wanting to join the others just yet. I took off my shoes and let my feet feel the ground. The ground was warm from the sun and the grass tickled the bottoms and sides of my feet as I walked. I planned to try and convince Katara, Sokka, and Toph to let me go back tomorrow, since I had such a good time today.

The cave came into sight and I walked faster until I was running into the cave. I threw my shoes at one of the walls and slowed down.

"Katara! Aang and I went to a school today and it so much fun! Could I please go back tomorrow?" I stopped in front of Katara, who was stirring the pot of stew.

"You did what now?" She asked.

"Aang and I went to school."

"Where's Aang now?"

"Um, playing with some kids he met, I think. So, could I go back tommorrow? Please?"

"I don't think that's a good idea Avani."

"Why not?"

At that moment, Aang came into the cave, his face partly covered with black stuff.

"There you are! We were worried sick!" Katara looked at Aang. "Where have you been?"

I sat down next to Appa.

"I went to play with some kids after school." Aang answered Katara.

"That's what I told you." I mumbled under my breath.

Katara glanced at me for a second.

"Avani and I enrolled in a fire nation school. And I'm going back tommorrow." Aang took his headband off and sat down next to Katara and Toph.

"Aang, I'm not trying to shoot down your idea or anything, but it sounds really terrible." Sokka said.

"Yeah, we already got our outfits. What do you need to go to school for?" Toph leaned back on her hands.

"Every minute I'm in that classroom, I'm learning new things about the fire nation. I already have a picture of Fire Lord Oazi. And here's one that I made out of noodles!" Aang held up two pieces of paper.

"Impressive, but it's still too dangerous." Sokka said.

"I guess we'll never learn about the secret river then. It leads right to the palace." Aang looked at Sokka. "We were supposed to learn about it in class tomorrow..."

"Fine, we'll stay a few more days." Sokka agreed after a moment. Aang stood up and went somewhere else in the cave, excited about being able to go back.

"So if Aang's going, can I go too?" I asked.

"No." Sokka said.

"What? Why?" I sat up straight.

"You're young, and it's dangerous."

"What does me being young have to do with this?"

"You could accidentally say something about us and get us in lots of trouble."

"I'll be careful! I promise!"

"I agree with Sokka. It isn't a good idea for you to go too." Katara said.

I gave up and leaned on Appa, writing letters in his fur until dinner was ready, then again until I fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter took a while to get up. I've been busy with dance recital practice and junk. Anyways, it's up now! Enjoy!**

Aang was gone when I woke up the next morning. Already at school, how lucky was he? I wasn't going to say anything about it though. Sokka and Toph were also gone. I pushed myself off of Appa and onto the cave floor. Katara was cleaning breakfast dishes. I rubbed my eyes, then I stood up and joined her.

"Morning Avani." Katara handed me a small bowl filled with cold leftover stew.

"Good morning." I answered.

I ate my food quickly, ignoring the taste of it. When I had finished, Katara had me help her put the dishes away.

"Where is Sokka and Toph?" I placed the last bowl in its bag.

"In town. Thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome."

I put a hand on my skirt, where a pocket for Ren should be. There was nothing there. Katara had put it in Sokka's bag a few days ago, didn't she? I opened his bag, which was lying near the wall.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked me.

"Looking for Ren." I pushed a few things around, finding my letter scroll, but no Ren.

"Do you know where it is Katara?" I closed the bag.

"No, I don't."

I started to get a little worried. Where did it go? Did I have it with me and lose it somewhere and not know it? I looked through Appa's saddle and in all the small spots in the cave. Nothing.

"We'll find it Avani. Don't worry." Katara had been helping me search.

I did worry though. That toy was my last connection to the library. That toy was special to me. I've had it for as long as I could remember. I had to find it.

I kept searching Appa's saddle and the bags. Ren was not there.

Ren wasn't anywhere to be found, so to keep me entertained, Katara made me practice my fighting abilities. Practicing alone was boring, I'd much rather be training with someone, or playing with Ren. But I couldn't do either, so I stayed quiet and practiced until Katara told me that I could stop.

Sokka and Toph came back to the cave just as I finished searching the bags again. I leaned against Appa and saw that Sokka was holding a small bag of food in his arms. He set it down near the rest of our supplies.

"Hey Avani." Sokka glanced over at me.

"Hi." I said back.

Toph sat down against the wall of the cave and propped her feet up on a rock, then threw something at me.

I tried to catch it, but it missed my hands and lande in my lap. Ren. I squeaked with happiness.

"Where did you find it?" I hugged Ren against my chest.

"Sokka found it in his bag. It was falling apart so we took it into town and got it fixed for you."

"Thank you!" I smiled.

I ran my fingers over Ren. Stitches ran along its edges. It felt stiffer, whoever fixed it must have put more of that fluffy stuff inside it.

I hadn't been outside all day, so I decided to go on top of the cave and wait for Aang to come back. He should be back soon. I stood up and started out of the cave.

"Where are you going?" Katara asked.

"Outside." I stopped and looked at her.

"Okay. Don't go far though."

"I won't."

I walked out of the cave and climbed up the hill until I was almost directly above everyone. I stood on the tips of my toes, trying to see if Aang was coming. He wasn't in sight, so I climbed back down the hill and headed to the beach. The rocky sand was warm from the sun. I buried my toes in it and watched the small waves for a few minutes.

_Warm water splashed my arms and legs. Sand was flung around. Bright sunlight and red skin flashed through my mind. _

I unburied my feet and walked along the beach until I found a small sandy patch free of rocks. I knelt down in the sand and drew pictures and wrote letters and words in the sand until the sun fell further in the sky. Ren watched me with its unblinking eyes until I stood up and brushed the sand off my legs. I grabbed Ren and walked back to the cave.

Aang was back and was talking to Katara, Sokka, and Toph. I walked into the cave slowly, not wanting to interrupt them. They looked up at me for a moment, then looked back at each other. They continued talking while I sat down against a wall.

I looked down at Ren and ran my fingers over it, not paying attention to the world around me.

"We'll be back soon." Katara said.

"Where are you going?" I looked up at her. She had changed and her clothes made her stomach look very round and large.

"Aang got in trouble, so now Sokka and I have to go talk to the headmaster."

"Oh."

Sokka was wearing a fake beard and had also changed into different clothes. Katara had her hair up into two buns on the sides of her head. The two left with Aang, leaving Toph and me alone with Momo and Appa.

I was curious to Toph's life before meeting Aang and Katara and Sokka, but I was also scared to ask her. I had found out on my own that Sokka and Katara lived in the South Pole, and their dad had left for the war. I spent a few minutes debating with myself.

"What's bothering you Little Bit?"

"Oh, um. I was just wondering how you met Aang, Katara, and Sokka."

"They came to my house after Aang found me at an earth bending competition."

"Why did they do that? They could have talked to you there, couldn't they?"

"I got mad and wouldn't let them talk to me."

"Oh, so.. What was your house like? And your family?" I crawled closer to Toph.

"Well, my house was pretty big, and there was lots of servants and guards. My parents thought I was this helpless little girl and they wouldn't let me go anywhere alone."

"Oh." I sat on my heels.

"Yup."

We stayed quiet until Katara, Sokka, and Aang came back. Sokka told Aang that he wasn't going back to school again.

"But I'm not ready to leave. I'm having fun for once." Aang replied. "Those kids are the future of the fire nation, we need to show them a little taste of freedom."

"What are you going to do to a bunch of little fire monsters?"

"I'm going to throw them a secret dance party!" Aang smiled at us while Katara's and Sokka's mouths hung open.


	17. Chapter 17

Sokka and I placed candles along the walls of the cave while Toph, Aang, and Katara bent up tables and little water fountains.

"They're coming! Everyone stop bending!" Toph said.

Aang sent Appa and Momo outside as the kids from school walked into the cave. I tossed Ren in Appa's saddle as he passed me. Aang led the everyone into the cave and helped set up some instruments for a few of the kids to play. After they started to play, Aang jumped in front of them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The Flameos!" Aang shouted. No one moved.

I sat down at the table with Toph, Sokka, and Katara, while Aang showed everyone some dance moves.

"Who knew Twinkle Toes could dance?" Toph took another drink from her cup.

I watched Aang take On Ji's hand and led her to the middle of the floor. They started dancing together while Sokka said that they looked good together.

"If that's what you like." Katara answered.

"Everybody freestyle!" Aang shouted.

I watched everyone dance. Some people made up their own moves, while others did the ones that Aang showed. A boy I knew walked up to my seat. Katsuo.

"Come dance with me Nina."

"I don't know how to."

"I don't either. Just come do it."

I set down my drink and stood up. The two of us walked towards the edge of the cave wall where three more kids I recognized were dancing.

"Hey Nina!" A girl named Akira waved to me.

"Hi."

"Where have you been?"

"Oh, uh, nowhere."

"Don't just stand there Nina, dance with us." The boy took my hand and the two of started dancing.

At first I was nervous, but the longer I stayed out on the floor, the more comfortable I became. Soon I was laughing and bouncing around with Kiku, Katsuo, Akira, and Yuki. We tried out each of the dances that Aang showed us, falling on our backs when we tried the more difficult moves, and made up some of our own.

After a while, the four kids stopped dancing and their gaze went to the middle of the floor. I saw Katara and Aang dancing with each other. Katara looked a little nervous, but that went away after Aang's mouth moved.

After their dance ended, everyone went back to what they were doing. About an hour passed before everyone suddenly stopped. I looked around to see what had made them stop so quickly. The headmaster.

"He's the one we want! The boy with the headband!"

Aang ran from the guards, grabbing my arm as he passed me. He pushed me towards Katara and Toph. Katara held onto my wrist as we ran out the back of the cave. I looked back at everyone and saw they had tied their belts around their heads. Aang bowed to one kid, then ran after us.

We climbed onto Appa then flew away from the cave. I took my shoes off and placed them next to me while Katara handed me Ren. I held onto the edge of the saddle while we flew.

"Way to go dancey-pants. I think you really did help those kids. You taught them to be free." Toph said.

"It was just a dance party." Aang replied.

Katara leaned over and kissed Aang's cheek. "Well, that was some dance party."

We kept flying throughout the night. Sokka busied himself by making a schedule for us until the invasion. I leaned my head against the edge of the saddle and fell asleep.

We were in a river the next morning. I sat up and looked around. The river was brown and gross-looking. It smelled weird.

"Morning sleeping beauty." Toph said.

"Good morning." I answered.

"Momo!" Aang's voice called.

Momo flew back and forth between Aang's spots in the river. I readjusted myself and let go of the saddle. Marks were on my hand and arm from where I had held on all night. Sokka was holding onto a stick with some string attached to it, while Katara looked out across the water. Aang jumped into the saddle, dirty water dripping from his body.

"Guys, I think this river is polluted."

He used his air bending to send the water flying off and onto us. I started to wipe the water off of us, but Aang beat me to it by sending an air current my way.

"That explains why I can't catch a fish around here. Because usually my fishing skills are off-the-hook!" Sokka held up the string. "Get it? Like a fishing hook?"

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook." Toph said.

Everyone laughed except Sokka.

"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else for food. Assuming that'll fit into Sokka's master schedule." Katara said.

"Hmm. It's doable. But that means only two potty breaks today." Sokka rolled his schedule back up.

Aang pointed out a village on the river. Appa climbed up onto the land and we all jumped out of the saddle. Aang covered Appa and Momo with grass while I tugged on my shoes. We walked to the edge of the cliff and looked out at the village.

"I don't feel anything. Where's this village?" Toph asked.

"It's in the middle of the river" Sokka answered.

'Sure is. My name's Dock. Mind if ask who you are?" A man stood on a wooden platform.

"We're, uh, from the earth kingdom colonies." Katara gestured to us.

"Wow, colonials. Well hop on, I'll give you a ride into town."

We climbed down the hill and onto the wooden platform. The man helped us onto a small boat. I sat in between Aang and Katara, while Toph and Sokka sat near the front. I held onto Aang's wrist while we floated across the water.

Katara asked why they lived on the river, and Dock told us that they were a fishing town. He told us about a factory nearby, which was gunking up the river. We could see the factory from the little boat. It was huge, not as big as the library, but very close. Smoke came out of the pipes on the roof. I looked at the factory until the boat bumped the side of the town.

Aang climbed off first, then helped me off, then Katara. Sokka came after us, then helped Toph onto the wooden floor. We waved to Dock as we walked away. I held onto Katara's hand, afraid of falling in the water.

There was hardly any movement. People sat against small buildings, their faces looked sad and miserable.

"We have to do something to help." Katara said. I nodded.

"No, we can't waste our time here!" Sokka stopped. "We have a bigger mission that we need to focus on. These people are on their own!"

I felt my eyes widen a little. How mean of Sokka. Katara's grip tightened on my hand.

"These people are starving, but you turn your back on them?! How could you be so cold and heartless?"

"I'm not turning my back on them! I'm just being realistic! We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into! We'll be helping them all by taking out the fire lord!"

"Hey loudmouth!" Toph put a hand over Sokka's mouth "Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about taking out the fire lord."

"Come on Katara, be reasonable. You know our mission has to come first."

"Let's just get what we need and go." Aang suggested.

We continued walking towards the middle of the town. I looked at the children. Most of them seemed to be my height, but most likely younger than me. They looked so different from the kids at the school. These kids were so skinny and sad. I looked down at my own small arms and legs, then back at the kids. None of them smiled, or played with each other, or even talked.

"Hey Dock, you work here too?" Sokka's voice said.

I looked away from the children. We had stopped at shop in the middle of town. Dock was standing behind a counter. Or, what looked like Dock. He said his name was Xu. He pulled out a box full of dirty fish. I made a small face and stepped back a little, still holding onto Katara's hand. Xu wrapped a few fish up. Katara let go of my hand and took the fish.

Xu disappeared below the counter. When he came back up, he was wearing the same hat as Dock was. He told us that his brother told him that we needed a ride back to shore. I tired to figure out what was going on. Was this the same man? Or was there another person below the counter, waiting for us to leave?

Dock or Xu or whoever this person was climbed over the counter and led us back to the boat. I took Aang's hand as we left the shop. Katara stayed behind for a moment. I looked over my shoulder and saw her hand a fish to a small boy, then follow us.

I wish I could help these people too.


	18. Chapter 18

"What?! Appa's sick?" Sokka's voice cut through my sleep. "That's awful!"

I shot up, terrified. Sokka had been sleeping in the saddle next to me. I climbed out of the saddle and over to Appa. He was lying on his side, breathing heavily. Appa opened his mouth and groaned. His tongue was purple. I ran my hand over Appa's head.

"We need to go into town to get some medicine for Appa." Katara said.

We started walking towards the boat dock. Toph held onto Aang's arm while I held onto Katara's. Sokka pushed the boat across the water until we reached the town.

After we had gotten off the boat, I took Katara's hand. We walked back to Xu's shop for some medicine. I noticed that the people here seemed a little happier. Kids were playing and laughing. We kept walking until we arrived at the shop.

"Hey Xu, what's going on with everyone today?" Sokka asked.

"Something amazing happened last night. Food was delivered to our village by a wonderful and mysterious person. The Painted Lady."

"The Painted who now?" Katara asked.

"The Painted Lady. She's a river spirit who watches over our town in times of need." Xu explained.

"See! We don't need to help these people, the already have someone to look after them." Sokka turned to Xu. "All we need is medicine for our sick friend."

"All the medicine goes to the factory."

"Looks like we need to stay another night so Appa can rest." Katara said.

Sokka asked Xu if he had any more food to sell. Xu brought up two different fish, one with one head and another with two heads. Sokka took the two headed fish and we headed back to our small campsite, where Katara cooked the two headed fish for dinner.

_~o0o~_

I woke up in the middle of the night by strange sounds. I sat up in the saddle and looked around. There was something moving not too far from where we were. I leaned down so I would be spotted. The back of my mind told me to wake up Sokka, who was sleeping next to me, but for some reason I didn't. I just watched. It was Katara. She was walking slowly, trying to not be seen. I watched her walk into our campsite, pull some stuff out of her sleeping bag, then climb in and go to sleep. Where did she go? And why did she hide stuff in her bag? I planned on asking her in the morning.

_~o0o~_

We went back down to town again the next morning. Everyone seemed happier than yesterday. We walked up to Xu shop. Dock was rubbing a small statue with a cloth.

"Hi Dock, is Xu around?" Sokka asked.

"Let me check." Dock said, then he left.

I looked around, Aang's hand in mine. People were setting up a large statue of the Painted Lady and several of them were cheering. I watched kids run around with strings in their hands. Pieces of cloth were stuck to the end of the string, so when children ran, the cloth would fly through the air. Other kids were throwing balls at each other and some just ran around the village.

Katara suddenly walked away. I watched her leave, wondering why she had left us. Maybe if I had payed more attention to their conversation, I would know. Aang and Sokka were making weird 'woo' noises, and I looked at them with a weird face. Sokka laughed then we walked back to the camp.

_~o0o~_

I woke up in the middle of the night. A bad dream had caused it, and as I tried to remember what it was about, I noticed Katara getting up from her sleeping bag. I leaned against the side of the saddle and watched. Katara put some grass stuff in her sleeping bag and covered it up. Then she got up and carefully walked behind a small hill. I climbed out of the saddle and followed her.

I forgot to ask her this morning. Well, I guess I can ask now.

I peeked around the side of the hill. Katara was putting red paint on her face. I walked closer until I was almost behind her.

"What are you doing?" I asked quietly.

Katara jumped and dropped the bowl of paint.

"Uh, nothing." She tried to hide the paint on her face.

"Why did you put grass in your bag? And why were you gone earlier this morning?"

"Go back to bed Avani."

I put my hands on my hips, something I had seen Katara do several times. "Not until you tell me."

Katara sighed. "I've been helping the villagers. Now please go back to bed."

I stayed where I was.

"Please Avani? Don't say anything to Sokka or Aang or Toph, please?"

"I wanna help."

"There isn't anything for you to do. I've already taken care of most of it."

My hands took themselves off of my hips.

"Please go back to bed. I won't be gone long." Katara stood up, put a hat on her head, then started walking away.

I turned and headed back to the camp, where I climbed back into the saddle and slowly fell asleep again.

BOOM!

I sat straight up in the saddle and gripped Sokka's arm, squeaking in fear. Sokka bolted upright and looked around.

"What? What is it?"

Smoke was coming from the factory. Lots of smoke.

"Oh no." Sokka whispered after he saw the smoke.

Katara's bag was still full of grass. Aang was also missing. Toph and Sokka looked around the area, hoping to find them. I stayed behind in case they came back. I waited on Appa's leg for a few minutes, then Sokka and Toph came back. Without Aang and Katara.

"Wait! They're coming." Toph said.

Sokka took Katara's bag and stood next to Toph. I heard Aang laughing, then Katara shushing him.

"We don't want to wake Sokka." Katara walked around the hill and spotted us watching her. "Hi, Sokka. We were just out on a morning walk."

"Oh really? A morning walk?" Sokka shook some grass out of the bag. "I know you're the Painted Lady and I know you've been sneaking out at night and I know you've been lying about Appa and been feeding him purplizing tongue berries!" Sokka pointed at Toph, who stuck out her tongue.

Katara glanced at me. I shook my head, trying to let her know that I didn't tell them. She turned her attention back to Sokka.

"Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now!"

We started to pack up the camp. No one talked. I took the bags and put them into the saddle where they belonged. I had been carrying a heavy bag when everyone ran over to the cliff side. The bag slipped from my fingers and hit my foot.

"Ow." I wiggled my foot out from under the bag and hurried over to everyone else.

Fire nation people were in boats that were headed towards the village.

"What did you do?" Sokka demanded.

"I kind of destroyed their factory." Katara answered.

"You what?!"

"It was your idea!"

"I was joking! Did you even think this through? The army is headed to village right now to get revenge!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do?"

"Leave! Do nothing!"

"No! I will never turn my back on people who need me!" Katara screamed so loud that I thought the village might be able to hear her.

"I'm going down to the village. And I'm going to do whatever I can." Katara stood up.

Sokka waited for a moment, the went after her. "Wait, I'm coming too."

"I thought you didn't want to help."

"You need me, and I'll never turn my back on you."

Aang, Toph and I walked closer to the two.

"Sokka, you really do have a heart." Katara hugged her older brother.

Tears started rolling down Aang's face. "He really does have a heart, doesn't he?" Aang wiped them away.

Toph knocked Aang down and I laughed.

**A/N: Lots of cutting and stuff, sorry about that. I'm thinking about setting a few dates for uploads, how does Sunday and Wednesday sound? I don't know, I don't like that I'm doing updates at random times, so I want to know what days work well for an update. What days/day should I do updates? Or should I just keep doing what I'm doing now? Anyways, I'm taking too long with this authors note, so I'll see you all when I see you! :)**


	19. Chapter 19

We made up a plan to help the village. Toph, Sokka, and I were going to stay behind and make some noise to scare the soldiers, while Katara and Aang would go to the village and get rid of them. Sokka handed me a flute, another was in his other hand.

"Just play these three notes, okay?" Sokka showed me three different finger placements.

We hid beside a large hill. We could see the village and Aang and Katara getting ready. Katara and Sokka made eye contact with each other. Sokka gave a small nod. Katara and Aang looked at each other, then the two bent up some fog. Sokka started playing and I did the same. Toph smashed a giant rock on the ground which made Appa roar. The noise sounded creepy all together.

I focused on playing the notes, but every so often I would glance up in hopes of seeing something. Each time I did, all I saw was fog. We heard an explosion, then some yelling. We stopped our creepy noises and listened. The fog had started to clear, so seeing what was going on would be easier.

"Let's go join them." Sokka said.

We walked around the side of the hill to where the boats were at. Sokka helped Toph into the boat. I stepped inside and carefully sat down next to Toph. Sokka took the stick-thing and helped the boat float across the water. I watched Katara use her water bending to stand on top of the water and say something to one soldier. The man swam away from her and was helped onto a boat by another person. They then sailed away.

The villagers had gathered in a large group near the edge of town. Everyone was cheering for Katara as she landed back on the platforms. Sokka stopped the boat and tied it to the dock. I climbed out then turned and gave Toph my hand. She took it and pulled herself out. We walked up the steps and stood off to the side of the crowd. Aang slipped though the crowd and stood next to Toph.

Dock left the crowd and walked closer to Katara, thanking her. He got a funny look on his face.

"Hey, you're not the Painted Lady, you're that colonial girl!" Dock said.

The crowd stopped cheering and began to yell at Katara. They yelled things like 'how dare you act like our Painted Lady' and they also made booing noises.

Sokka ran in front of Katara. "Maybe she is a water bender, but she was just trying to help! Because of her, that factory won't be polluting your river and the army is gone! You should be down on your knees thanking her!"

"Sokka," Katara started, "it's okay. I shouldn't have pretended to be someone I wasn't and I shouldn't have tricked you. But I felt like I had to do something. It doesn't matter if the Painted Lady is real or not, because your problems are real. And this river is real. You can't wait around for someone to help you. You have to help yourself."

"She's right. But what should we do?" Dock asked.

"Maybe we could clean the river?" Toph said from the crowd.

"Yeah, we can clean the river!"

Everyone else started agreeing and cheering, then left to gather supplies.

Dock said that Katara wasn't so bad for a water bender. Sokka asked if he could keep it a secret and Dock agreed. Katara asked if he was going to help clean. Dock said no. He changed his hat and called himself Bushi.

"Let's get cleaning!" Bushi/Dock/Xu said.

Man was I confused. I tried to sort out how one person could call himself different names.

"Avani, are you coming?" Katara asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I hurried to catch up to the group.

Sokka and I climbed in a large boat. We were given mops to clean with. A large container sat in the middle of the boat for the gunk in the river. Katara, stayed on the village while Toph and Aang got into another boat. They used their bending to help clean the river. I stuck the mop into the river and swirled it around a few times. Gunk instantly stuck to the mop. I pulled it back out and scraped the junk off into the container.

There was a lot of noise while we worked. People talked and some sang songs. There was the noise of water being swished around and the thunking of mops being hit against the edges of containers. Every so often there would be a scream of happiness or laughter from a child.

My arms were starting to get tired from holding the mop. I set it down for a minute and gently shook my arms.

"Want a drink?" A man asked.

I nodded and the man handed me a small cup of clean water.

"Thank you." I said before drinking the water.

The man nodded and turned back to the water. After my cup was empty, I set it down on the floor and went back to work. The river had cleared up a lot over the past hours. There was still parts of the river that was full of junk, but most of it was blue again.

The sun was setting by the time we had finished cleaning the river. It was blue and the sun made the water shimmer. The junk in the containers were set behind the hills, out of the village's sight. Katara, Sokka, Aang, Toph and I said goodbye to the village, then we headed back to camp.

"Dock was a strange man." Sokka said.

Everyone agreed.

"Why did he call himself three different names?" I asked.

"No idea." Aang answered.

We spent the next few minutes in silence.

"Alright. Everyone should get some sleep. We leave first thing tomorrow morning." Sokka said.

The dinner bowls were put away and goodnights were said. Katara and Sokka climbed in their sleeping bags. Aang curled up on Appa and Toph laid down on the ground. I fell asleep on top of an extra sleeping bag. I didn't climb inside because I felt squished with the fabric wrapped around me.

As I fell deeper into sleep, I could feel my arms start to get sore. They were going to hurt a lot in the morning. The last thought that went through my head was thinking about how happy those people were going to be from now on.


End file.
